Some hand anthropometry among Babur/Bura and Kanuri ethnic groups of Borno State, Nigeria.

Abstract

BACKGROUND AND AIM: The human hand is the most used and versatile part of the body, and its dimensions varies with age, sex and ethnic groups. Hand dimensions such as, hand length and hand breadth are useful in forensic and legal sciences. The aim of this study is to measure some hand anthropometry variation among Babur/Bura and Kanuri ethnic groups in Maiduguri, Borno state Nigeria.

METHODOLOGY: A total of eight hundred and one (801) subjects (401 males; 198 Babur/Bura, 203 Kanuri and 400 females; 198 Babur/Bura, 202 Kanuri) were recruited for this study. Parameters collected were:  hand length (HL), palm length (PL), hand breadth (HB) and palm breadth (PB) using a palm print scanner (HP Deskjet 1515 model) and, compared between groups student’s t-test was used, discriminant function was used to predict sex. SPSS version 22.0 software was used for statistical analyses and P<0.05 was set as level of significance.

RESULTS: Data analyzed showed that, Babur/Bura and Kanuri males had higher (p<0.001) mean hand dimension values compared to their female counterparts. However, there was no difference (p>0.05) in hand dimensions between the male-to-male and female-to-female of both ethnic groups.

CONCLUSION: There was sexual dimorphism in hand dimensions amongst Babur/Bura and Kanuri ethnic groups, which, could be useful for determination of sex and provide more insight into biological variation with the inclusion of these groups.