The Cervical Spine: Race and Sex Differences

This study examines the possible correlation of cervical vertebrae (C2-C7) gross morphological and metric variation with race and sex. Developmental and normal anatomy of the cervical vertebrae are investigated to pinpoint any functional reason associated with this variability. The 174 individuals comprising the pooled data set consisted of black and white males and females from the William M. Bass Collection and the Terry Anatomical Collection. Five measurements and one spinous process type classification were collected on each cervical vertebra (C2-C7). A series of multivariate and discriminant statistical tests were performed on the measurement data to determine whether significant variation exists with respect to race and sex. The typological data were subjected to Chi² tests to estimate the strength of the relationships between spinous process gross morphological type categorizations and race.

Results of these tests indicate discernible size and gross morphological differences between cervical vertebrae relative to race and/or sex. Such measurable differences were discriminated with moderate to high accuracy for race and sex: further, group classifications were found to be low to moderate. The strength of the relationship between spinous process gross morphological types and race was found to be significant at the C3, C4, and C5 level. No conclusions were reached as to the cause and function of this variation.