Morphometry of the Greater Sciatic Notch in Sex Determination in a Nigerian Population

The greater sciatic notch as a landmark in sexual dimorphism was tested using various parameters of the sciatic notch. Examination of the male and female greater sciatic notches of the hip bone (oscoxae) was done using 200 radiographs of adult hip bones (one hundred and fifteen females and eighty - five males) from Nigeria. The maximal width (AB), maximal depth (OC), posterior width (AO) and total angle ( 95%) with the lowest percentage identified being that of the posterior width in males (95.3%) while index II identified the highest percentage - ( 100%) in both males and females as did the total angle in males ( 100%). Maximal width, maximal depth, total angle and index I showed significant gender differences (p<0.05) while the gender differences observed in posterior width and index II were not significant (p>0.05), showing that the posterior segment of the width is not very useful in sex determination while the total angle was observed as the best parameter.

Key Words: Greater sciatic notch, sexual dimorphism, Nigeria