Premium
Intercondylar shelf angle in adult black Malawian subjects
Author(s) -
Igbigbi P.S.,
Msamati B.C.,
Ng'Ambi T.M.
Publication year - 2001
Publication title -
clinical anatomy
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.667
H-Index - 71
eISSN - 1098-2353
pISSN - 0897-3806
DOI - 10.1002/ca.1043
Subject(s) - medicine , goniometer , femur , black sea , radiography , sexual dimorphism , orthodontics , anatomy , black male , surgery , geology , mathematics , geometry , gender studies , oceanography , sociology
In this study, we determined the intercondylar shelf angle of the femur in adult black Malawian subjects as measured in lateral radiographs of the knee joint. A total of 856 radiographs were used: 464 from men and 392 from women, aged 18–70 years. A goniometer measured the intercondylar shelf angle at the intersection between Blumensaat's line and a line drawn along the edge of the distal third of the femur parallel to the posterior cortex of the bone. The mean intercondylar shelf angle of 136.60° ± 5.90° in Malawians of both sexes was significantly different from 142.57° ± 5.86° for American subjects ( P < 0.001), as given by Craig (1995, J. Forensic Sci. 40:777–782), but the level of statistical significance between black Malawian females and black American females was at P < 0.01. Using the intercondylar shelf angle, 66.67% of male Malawians were correctly identified as such and 50.00% of Malawians females as such. Eighty‐three percent of males and 81.30% of females were correctly identified as blacks. This angle has been shown to exhibit sexual dimorphism in Malawian subjects. Its importance in forensic anthropology is stressed. Clin. Anat. 14:254–257, 2001. © 2001 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.