Reexamination of a measurement for sexual determination using the supero-inferior femoral neck diameter in a modern European population

The present study reexamines the accuracy of the supero-inferior femoral neck diameter for the determination of sex using a mod - ern sample of French individuals. In 1998, Seidemann et al. used this univariate method for sex determination with the Hamann-T odd collection. Stojanowski and Seidemann in 1999 tested previous results on a modern sample taken from the University of New Mexico and conclu ded that the Caucasian male samples exhibited no significant differences between individuals born before and after 1900, but the Caucasian f emale subgroup did exhibit differences with an increase of the SID in the modern sample. The current study compares the previous results of th e supero-inferior femoral neck diameter with a modern sample of elderly French individuals born after 1910. Both sides of the femur were measured . No statistical difference was found between the right and left side ( p � 0.31). The results showed a significant difference between the pre-1900 and the modern sample, with an increase in femoral neck diameter in modern populations. The comparison of the SID values between the two moder n samples (Mex- ico and Nice) showed no significant differences in the femoral neck diameter in the two male subgroups ( p � 0.05), but the measurements of the SID in the female subgroup did exhibit significant differences with an increase of the neck femoral diameter ( p � 0.01) in the modern French pop- ulation. These results demonstrate an increase in the neck femoral morphology in the elderly European French females samples.