Evaluation of Cranial Capacity, Brain Weight and Body Mass Index of Igbo Students in University of Port Harcourt, Nigeria

Abstract

Ethnicity, gender, age, environment and genes of a people, plays an important role in determining their craniofacial dimensions. This study was carried out to determine the mean values for the Height, Weight, Head length, Head width, Head height, Head circumference, Body mass index, Cephalic index, cranial capacity, Brain weight and Brain index of the Igbo students in University of Port Harcourt. The study also seeks to determine if there are sexual dimorphism and correlation between the cranial capacity and Head width.378 Igbo Students participated in the study (182 males and 196 females) between the age of 18-40 years. The mean and standard deviation values of the male Igbos for  age, Height, Weight, Head length, Head width, Head height, Head circumference, BMI, Cephalic index, cranial capacity and Brain weight were: 27.22±7.65, 173.78 ±8.66cm, 65.49±10.16 kg, 18.01±0.89 cm, 14.3±0.95cm, 14.41±0.88cm, 56.71±2.55cm, 21.73±3.44kg/m2, 79.93±6.60%, 1412.7±111.1, 1462.2±115.0g and 2.29±0.39 while that of female Igbos were  25.83±5.65 , 167.32±9.17 cm, 60.73 ±11.11 kg, 17.68 ±0.76 cm, 14.07 ±0.76 cm, 13.97 ±1.05 cm, 56.3±31.74cm, 21.75±3.93kg/m2, 79.71±5.61%, 1313.8±128.8, 1359.8±133.3g and 2.31±0.45 respectively. It was observed that, the males had a significantly higher value than that of the females in the Height, Weight, Head length, Head width, Head height, cranial capacity and Brain weight (P<0.05). It was also observed that, there were no significant difference between the male and female values in the Head circumference, BMI and Cephalic index (P>0.05). The result in the present study showed a strong positive correlation between Igbo male Cranial Capacity and Head width(P<0.05). A linear regression equation for estimating cranial capacity from Head width for the Igbo students was established. The data will be useful to the Anatomist, anthropologist and the forensic scientist.