Sex estimation in a modern Turkish population using the clavicle: a computed tomography study

Morphometric analysis of the clavicle is a potential source of useful data for the estimation of sex. Clavicle is often retrieved intact from decomposed and scavenged remains when pelvis and skull, essential sex indicators, are often found damaged or missing. The objective of this study is to analyse clavicle morphometric data for sex estimation in a Turkish population. Computed tomography (CT) scans of the thorax of two hundred Turkish adult patients (71 male and 81 female patients with an age range of 22-80 years) were included. Furthermore, morphometric data for the left clavicle using two-dimensional (2D) and three-dimensional (3D) clavicle CT images were obtained, and six variables were measured in the clavicle images. Univariate and multivariate discriminant function analysis (DFA) was used to create population-specific functions for sex estimation. The classification accuracy for the cross-validated data ranged from 75% to 89% in the uni- and multivariate DFA. Stepwise discrimination analysis yielded an 89% accuracy rate for the maximum length and midshaft circumference variables. The study showed that the clavicle can provide useful data for estimating sex in a modern Turkish population and that when there is difficulty accessing bone collections, CT scans can provide useful data for sex estimation.