DOI: 10.36347/sjams.2020.v08i09.003

Pages: 1985-1993

Introduction: Stature is considered as one of the important parameters for personal identification. So, stature reconstruction is important as it provides forensic anthropological estimation of the height of a person in the living state which plays a vital role in the identification of individual remains. Aim: The aim of the present study was to investigate the association of hand length, hand breadth and length of middle finger with height and to show if height could be predicted using these measurements. Methodology: The present study was conducted on a sample of 200 medical students (100 males and 100 females) within the age group of 18-25 years from Government Medical College, Jammu and Indira Gandhi Dental College, Jammu. Results: It was observed that in males the length parameters show greater correlation than the breadth parameters and the highest correlation is shown by the Right Hand Length in males and Left Hand Length in females and lowest correlation is shown by Left Hand Breadth in males and Right Hand Breadth in females. Linear as well as multiple regression equations were also derived from each parameter studied to determine stature from them separately. Conclusion: It is concluded that dimensions of hand provides good reliability in estimation of stature. The highest correlation coefficient between stature and right hand length in males and left hand length in case of females, with lowest standard error of estimate, indicates that comparatively hand length provides highest reliability and accuracy in estimating stature in both males and females. By deriving the population specific linear and multiple regression equations, we can determine the height of a person reliably from the dimensions of hand, provided that the person belongs to the Jammu and Kashmir region.