Palmar and Digital Dermatoglyphics in Congenitally Deaf Subjects Sharma Anu Dr1,*, Singh Poonam Dr2, Sood Veena Dr3 1Assistant Professor, Department of Anatomy, Dayanand Medical College & Hospital, Ludhiana, Punjab, India 2Professor & Head, Department of Anatomy, Dayanand Medical College & Hospital, Ludhiana, Punjab, India 3Professor, Department of Anatomy, Dayanand Medical College & Hospital, Ludhiana, Punjab, India *Email: anuashwani2003@yahoo.com
Abstract Development of dermal ridges and congenital deafness seems to be interlinked as they develop at around the same time. Hence, a study was devised to compare the dermatoglyphic patterns in established congenitally deaf cases with that of control healthy individuals. The study was conducted at Dayanand Medical College and Hospital, Ludhiana, Punjab, India. One hundred subjects with congenital deafness and mutism and a control group of fifty subjects with normal hearing having similar sex distribution were selected. The dermal patterns of finger tips, hypothenar area, thenar area, all interdigital areas of both hands, total number of tri-radii of both palmer areas, ‘atd’- angle, total ridge count and presence or absence of simian crease were noted with the help of magnifying hand lens. Patterns distribution on right hand fingertips of deaf males showed statistically significant difference (p<0.05). The difference in number of whorls in deaf males and control groups was observed as statistically significant. The various patterns frequencies in the deaf and control male groups for right hand's hypothenar area showed statistically significant difference (p < 0.05).In particular, frequency of arches (carpal)was found more in deaf of both sexes in the hypothenar area. The pattern frequencies in III interdigital area of right hand of deaf males were statistically higher than normal hearing males. In left hand of deaf females, patterns frequencies in III interdigital area were higher than normal hearing female group. This difference was found to be statistically highly significant (p<0.01). The pattern frequencies in IV interdigital area in the left hand of deaf males was also statistically more as highly significant when compared with control group (p<0.01). The incidence of simian crease was noted to be higher in the left hands of deaf in both sexes, and ‘mean’ ridge count was less in the deaf as compared to controls, but it was not statistically significant. These criteria by themselves are not enough to diagnose deafness by birth, but they can definitely be used for screening the population at large. Top Keywords dermatoglyphic, congenital deafness, pattern distribution, hypothenar area, thenar area, interdigital area. Top |