Assessment of the relation between stature and Cranio-facial variables in students of Shiraz University of Medical Sciences

Anthropometric data, particularly cranio-facial variables, is important in forensic medicine, sex determination, designing ergonomic instrument and plastic surgery. The aim of present study is to determine the relation between stature and facial length and facial width among students in Shiraz University of Medical Sciences.

This study was done on 201 students (100 males and 101 females), in the range of 18–41 years. Stature, facial length and facial width were measured by using a standard spreading caliper. The linear regression used for examining the relationship between stature and facial length and facial width. The data was analyzed by software SPSS 16. Independent-Samples T-Test was used to compare the data. The relationship between quantitative data was assessed by Pearson’s correlation coefficient and the linear regression equations were used to determine the relation between stature with facial parameters.

The result of study showed that the mean of facial length in male and female were 12.077±0.212 and 10.998±0.261 respectively. The mean of facial width in male and female were 13.727±0.820 and 11.363±0.675 respectively. In both sex, there were significant importance in facial length and width, especially in facial width in comparison to facial length. The mean of stature in male and female were 171.036±3.528 and 167.430±3.938 respectively. There was a correlation between stature and facial length (r =0.429, P=0.0001) and facial width (r =0.54, P=0.0001).

The analysis of linear regression for the all cases indicates that there is a relationship between stature and facial length/width. Hence, this study can be useful in forensic medicine, sex determination, designing ergonomic instrument and plastic surgery.