The Credibility of Cephalogram Parameters in Gender Identification From Medico-Legal Relevance Among the Iranian Populatio

Normal cephalogram parameters seem to be gender discriminative and thus applicable in forensic medicine. We assessed validity of cephalogram parameters in gender identification among the Iranian population. This cross-sectional study was conducted on 75 Iranian men and 75 Iranian women aged 25 to 54 years. On their first admission, the physicians requested for simple lateral skull X-ray for all participants. Using area under the ROC curve, gonion-gonion index (AUC=0.741) and vertex- mention index (AUC=0.697) had a moderate value to discriminate male from female gender, while other parameters lacked enough power to differentiate gender. The best cut-off point in gonion-gonion index for discriminating male from female gender was 103.75 with a sensitivity of 74.7% and a specificity of 65.3%. Also, the best cut-off value for vertex-mention index to differentiate two genders was 244.75 with a sensitivity of 74.7% and a specificity of 62.7%. By considering two parameters of gonion-gonion and vertex-mention, it is possible to differentiate males from females with a sensitivity of 82.6% and a specificity of 71.8%. The two gonion-gonion and vertex-mention indices on cephalogram are applicable for gender discrimination.