‘Cervical vertebral metrics’ A reliable approach to forensic identification: A comprehensive review

Document Type

Article

Publication Title

Translational Research in Anatomy

Abstract

Background: Sex and stature are the most critical factors to identify an unknown individual. In addition to the skull, pelvis, and other long bones, the vertebral column exhibits significant differences between males and females. It has been shown to have a statistically significant correlation with an individual's stature. Among the cervical vertebrae, the axis vertebra shows remarkable sexual dimorphism. Body of the study: A comprehensive literature search was done using PubMed, Web of Science, Embase, and Scopus between 1995 and 2023. The main inclusion criteria were studies on adult human cervical vertebral measurements from skeletal remains and Computed tomography images. Sixteen studies fulfilled the inclusion criteria from various populations estimating the sex and stature. Conclusion: An extensive review of relevant studies has established that the axis exhibits the highest sexual dimorphism among the cervical vertebrae, followed by the atlas and the C7 vertebra. Regarding the determination of stature from the various cervical metrics, the axis vertebra significantly correlated with stature. This comprehensive study offers valuable insights into the different measurement methods utilizing cervical vertebrae for sex and stature estimation, thereby serving as a pertinent resource for subsequent anthropometric investigations about cervical vertebrae.

DOI

10.1016/j.tria.2025.100391

Publication Date

6-1-2025

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