The Prevalence and Pattern Types of Palmar Digital Dermatoglyphics and Ridge Counts among Students of University of Gondar, Northwest Ethiopia

Abstract

Introduction: Human palmar digital dermatoglyphic patterns are individually unique and permanent throughout life. Patterns of skin ridge lines of ink are used in forensic science and have diagnostic value in clinical and genetical abnormalities. Aim: To determine the prevalence of the major dermatoglyphic pattern among students of University of Gondar, Ethiopia. Materials and Methods: A total of 393 students were recruited from one college and 6 faculties of University of Gondar. A pre-tested questionnaire was used to collect socio-demographic characteristics and ink printed digital dermatoglyphic was taken on a square box of white paper. The printing ink was smeared on the glass plate and starting with the right hand digits the entire prints of the ten digits of each study participants was obtained. Results: Ulnar loop was the most prevalent form (52.7%) followed by central pocket whorl (22%) and tenetd arch (13.53%). The total digital dermatoglyphic ridge count of males was slightly higher than that of females (8.59 versus 7.8 respectively). The frequency of the loop pattern among male was 55.33% (83/150) for Tigrie, 54.83% (159/290) for Oromo, 53.09% (791/1490) for Amhara students. In females, the prevalence of loop type dermatoglyphic pattern was 63.3% (57/90) for Guragie, 57.12% (217/380) for Tigrie, 53.86% (684/1270) for Amhara and 4.7% (75/1600) for Oromo students. Conclusion: Ulnar loops were the dominant dermatoglyphic patterns and radial loop pattern was the least frequent among University of Gondar students. Understanding the Human population differences in dermatoglyphic patterns may have diagnostic significance for genetical and clinical purposes. Large scale study is required to determine the dermatoglyphic patterns of human population living around Gondar and the country Ethiopia.

Keywords

• arches
• loops
• whorls