Morphology and morphometric dimensions of the acetabulum in the adult Kenyan dry bone population - An osteological study

Abstract

Background: The acetabulum is formed by the fusion of ischium, pubis, and ilium. It has a lunate-shaped articular surface on the inside which articulates with the head of the femur forming the hip joint. Genetics and environment affect acetabular shape and dimensions. Acetabular morphology and morphometry are important in total hip arthroplasty, prosthesis design, diagnosis of hip conditions and, determination of the age-at-death of human remains.

Objective: To determine the mean acetabular depth and diameter using the parameters of depth and diameter in adult dry bones at the National Museum of Kenya.

Materials and Methods: This study was a cross-sectional census study on adult dry bones. Bones with evidence of trauma and wear out to hip/acetabular and paediatric bones were excluded, making a total of 211 eligible bones. A vernier calliper was used to measure the acetabular diameter and depth. Three sets of data were collected into an Excel spreadsheet and analysed using SPSS version 28. Student’s t-test was used to determine the means, standard deviation, median, range and comparison done for laterality and gender.

Results: Fifty-point two percent of dry bones used were from the right side and fortynine point eight were from the left. Of the 117 bones with sex known, 22 were female and 95 were male. The mean acetabular depth of the dry bones was 3.10 cm, and mean diameter was 4.87cm. The right acetabular mean depth was 3.13 cm, and the left was 3.07 cm (p=0.16). Male bones had a mean depth of 3.16cm and females 3.05cm with no statistical significance (P=0.21). The right and left mean acetabula diameter were 4.87 cm. The male bones had a mean diameter of 4.92cm and females had 4.71cm (p=0.003).

Conclusion: The adult Kenya National Museum dry bone population mean acetabula depth was higher on the right side than on the left. The males had a non-significant higher mean depth than the females. The mean acetabular diameter does not differ by laterality. The male bones had a larger mean diameter than the female bones. The current study’s mean acetabular depth was comparable to African studies and deeper than that of Indian based studies. The current study’s acetabular mean depth and diameter was comparable to other studies in the literature in that the males had a larger mean diameter (statistically significant) and depth (varying amounts of significance) versus the females.