Cephalic Index in Indigenous Tharu Community

INTRODUCTION: Cephalic index is an important parameter for differentiation of race and sex which varies significantly on the basis of hereditary, geographical, racial, sexual and other factors. It is a morphometric expression of different forms of head. The objective of this research was to evaluate the cephalic index of people of indigenous Tharu community of Biratnagar, Nepal and to determine different head types. METHODS: A cross-sectional study was conducted in which maximum head length and breadth of 100 adult Tharu people living in Biratnagar were measured using spreading caliper and scale. The cephalic index was obtained from these values using Hrdlicka's method. RESULTS: The mean cephalic index of the study population was 75.99±4.97. The mean cephalic indices of males and females were 76.22±5.14 and 75.78±4.85 respectively. The most common head type observed was dolichocephalic type 47 (47%). It was followed by mesocephalic type 37 (37%), brachycephalic type 13 (13%) was less common and least common was hyperbrachycephalic type 3 (3%). CONCLUSIONS: Long head (dolichocephalic) type is more common in Tharu population in both the genders, whereas, broad head (brachycephalic and hyperbrachycephalic) type is present in very few people.