Sex Determination By Hand Dimensions (Hand Index) in Students of Hamedan University of Medical Sciences 1389

Sex determination (male/female) is one of the most important parts of human identification and sometimes it is not easy to be determinate, therefore; anthropometeric studies can be helpful. Evaluatin of dimensions of the hand will be very useful without spending a long time and complex examinations.The final goal of this anthropometeric study is the determination of sex by hand dimensions (Hand Index). This study was conducted with a case series design. 200 healthy Iranian students of Hamedam university of medical sciences aged between 18 to 25 years (100 male & 100 female) were investigated during 1389(2010-11). Both hands length and width were measured by caliper with 0.01 centimeter of precision and the hand index was calculated by dividing the width and length then multiplied by 100. Finaly, the collected data were analyzed by SPSS software 16th version. In males, the length of the right hand varied from 16.25 cm to 21.10 cm (mean: 18.96 cm) and in the left hand from 16.28 cm to 20.86 cm (mean:18.98 cm) and the width of the right hand varied from 7.24 cm to 9.45 cm (mean:8.80 cm) and in the left hand from 7.32 cm to 9.45 cm (mean:8.87 cm). In females the length of the right hand varied from 14.86 cm to 20.56 cm (mean:17.30) and in the left hand from 14.86 cm to 20.58 cm (mean: 17.28 cm) and the width of the right hand varied from 6.72 cm to 8.86 cm (mean: 7.56) and in the left hand from 6.62 cm to 8.75 cm (mean:7.48 cm). The hand index was calculated and it was more than 44 in all males (P=0.000) and less than 44 in all females in both hands (P=0.000). The results of this study showed that measurement of the hand dimensions and estimation of the hand index as a simple and useful method for determination of sex could be done in a short time in conjunction with other anthropometric and laboratory studies.