Hand Anatomy, Gender Differences, ROC Curve Values and Regression Formulas in Young Adults

Objective: In this study, our aim was to obtain the cut-off values with the “Receiver Operator Characteristic (ROC)” for estimating gender from the hand sizes of young adult female and male individuals, and also to create logistic regression equations. Material and Method: This study was carried out on 64 healthy young adult volunteers (29 males, 35 females) aged 18-22 years. Hand photos of the volunteers were taken using the Canon 800D camera. Hand length and hand breadth were measured with the “Image J” program. A total of 256 measurements were carried out. Results: Right hand mean length (in cm) was 17.70 for women and 20.01 for men; The mean breadth of the right hand was found to be 8.10 in women and 9.34 in men. The difference between the right and left sides in terms of hand length in men and both hand length and hand breadth in women was statistically significant p<0.005. The difference between the genders in terms of hand length and breadth values was also statistically significant, p<0.005. Cut-off values (in cm); 18.97 for right hand length, 8.874 for right hand breadth, 19,015 for left hand length, and 8.883 for left hand breadth. Regression equations for estimating gender were obtained from hand length and hand breadth. Among the equations created based on hand length and hand breadth, the equation with the highest probability of correct prediction was the equation based on left hand breadth (R square=0.824, overall true predicted ratio =93.8%).
Conclusion: We believe that the regression formulas obtained from hand morphometric values will be useful for anatomists, forensic medicine specialists and forensic anthropologists.