Dermatoglyphic Patterns and Body Mass Indices among Medical Students in India: A Cross-sectional Study

Abstract

Introduction: Obesity is a disorder for which environment and genetic factors are responsible. Many genetical inherited disorders including obesity have been found to have an association with dermatoglyphics. The present study was done to know the dermatoglyphic patterns of fingerprints of obese and nonobese medical students. Materials and Methods: Fingers and palm prints of both the hands of 150 medical students of 18–24 years were collected with the help of ink pad on A4 size of paper. The fingers and palm prints were studied using handheld magnifying lens and their body mass index was calculated with the help of weight and height. Results: In the present cross-sectional study among 150 participants, 78 were male and 72 were female. In male participants, 46.15% were non-obese and 46.15% were obese, whereas 7.7% were underweight. Among 34 female participants, 47.22% were non-obese, 47.22% were obese, and 5.55% were underweight. In a total of 150 participants, the most common dermatoglyphic pattern was loop (49.73%) on the right side (in male it was whorl and in female loop) and whorl (48.27%) was on the left side (in male it was loop and in female it was whorl). In male participants with normal weight, the most common pattern was loop on the right side (49.45%) and whorl (48.33%) on the left side, whereas in nonobese female participants, whorl was the most common pattern on both right (48.24%) and left (50%) side. In obese male participants, whorl was the most common dermatoglyphic pattern on both the right (56.67%) and left side (51.11%), whereas in obese female participants, loop was the common pattern on both the side (57.64% in the right and 46.47% in the left). Conclusions: Whorls in both sides, i.e. the right and left hands palmer prints were most commonly found in obese males, whereas loops were most common in both the sides in obese females. Therefore, the presence of whorls and loops can be associated with the obesity in males and females, respectively, with the help of advanced studies to be carried out in the future and the generated hypothetical information can be tested.