Variation in dermatoglyphic patterns in patients with rheumatoid arthritis

Abstract

Aim The aim was to detect a possible correlation of some quantitative and qualitative dermatoglyphic variables with rheumatoid arthritis (RA) and to find out if dermatoglyphics can play an important role in the diagnosis of RA, which have not been extensively researched before in Upper Egypt. Patients and methods The study was carried out on 50 patients with RA. The age range was 20–55 years. All patients were Upper Egyptian women. A total of 30 apparently healthy age-matched and sex-matched women belonging to the same demographic profile were taken as a control group. Results The present study revealed that ulnar loops were significantly decreased, the radial loops showed no significant increase, and arches were significantly increased in both hands of patients with RA as compared with the control. Regarding whorls, significant increase was noticed only in left hand. The tables declared increase in the percentage frequencies of all patterns in the diseased group in comparison with control except for the ulnar patterns of both hands, which showed a statistically significant decrease. However, the increase in the percentage frequencies of the other patterns in RA did not reach the level of significance except for the arch patterns in both hands and whorl patterns of the left hand, which were found to be statistically significant. It was observed that ulnar loops had higher frequency in control, whereas whorls and arches were more common in patients than control. Conclusion It could be concluded that there are characteristic variations in dermatoglyphic patterns in RA as compared with normal persons.

Keywords

• dermatoglyphics
• rheumatoid arthritis
• upper egypt