Digital and palmar dermatoglyphics were collected from 360 male and 360 female seven year old Caucasians from the greater Boston area. All participants were screened and found to be free of minor anomalies or chronic diseases. All individuals with I. Q. scores below 70 were also excluded. The results were presented in such a way as to give information on bilateral symmetry as well as overall frequencies of the various dermatoglyphic features. The results were compared with those of the corresponding sample of seven year old normal male and female Negroes of the accompanying report. A review of the distribution of the dermatoglyphic features in different Caucasian populations has also been presented and the overall dermatoglyphics of the Caucasians were discussed in reference to the distribution of the same features in the other major "racial" groups. The method of collection and selection of the subjects, described in the text, makes this set of data unique and one of the most suitable for use as controls in studying the dermatoglyphics of the individuals with diseases or congenital anomalies.
In previous reports the subclassifications for the terminations of the G line of the palm and for the interdigital palmar areas have been described. These subclassifications, as well as those of Cummins and Midlo for the hypothenar and thenar/I areas, were applied to anthropologic data and showed strong bilateral and racial polymorphism. The present study is an effort to determine the usefulness of these methods in investigations of clinical data. A well defined anomaly, Down's syndrome, which has known dermatoglyphic peculiarities, was chosen for this test. The study involved 145 male and 120 female patients and 108 male and 114 female control subjects. All subjects were unrelated Caucasians. Significant differences between the patient and control subjects were encountered in the subclassifications of the C line terminations and in the hypothenar area patterns. Significant differences were observed in the frequency of patterns in the thenar/I area as well as the expected differences in the simial lines. Sydney line frequencies showed no significant differences.
SpeculationThe results of the present study suggest that the subclassifications of the palmar patterns and the C line terminations are of value in the investigation of clinical data by offering further diagnostic criteria not revealed by gross dermatoglyphic evaluation.
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