Abstract:
Background: An individual’s footprint provides useful evidence for establishing personal identity
whenever complete or partial footprints are recovered at crime scene and forensic investigations.
By establishing the correlation between these measurements and stature, forensic experts can
utilize footprints as valuable evidence for personal identity establishment.
Objective: To estimate and predict stature by using footprint measurements among selected
undergraduates at KIU
Methods: A descriptive cross-sectional study was conducted among 346 undergraduates of KIU
above 18 years old. Data were collected using a pre-tested semi-interview – based questionnaire.
A stature measurement, eight footprint measurements (foot length, foot width, foot heal breath,
heal-hallux toe length, heal-index toe length, heal-middle toe length, heal-ring toe length, heal
pinky toe length) collected from each participant. Statistical analysis was done using SPSS version
28.0 using descriptive, inferential statistics and linear regression models.
Results: Among the sample (n=346), there were 228 (66%) female participants. The mean age of
the sample was 23.64±1.39 years and the highest age of participants was recorded as 28 years and
lowest age recorded was 18 years. All footprint measurements were significantly correlated with
stature (p<0.001) and the correlation coefficient (r) ranges for footprints are (male: 0.335 to 0.562,
female: 0.191 to 0.587). The regression equations for foot prints were formulated with prediction
accuracy of male ±4.819 cm to ±5.489 cm and for the female ±5.166 cm to ±6.263 cm.
Conclusion: Most reliable footprint parameters for stature prediction are heel-middle toe length
and foot length for males whereas foot length and heal-hallux toe length for females. These
findings indicate a strong association between footprints, and stature, suggesting their potential as
reliable indicators for estimating an individual's height
