Abstract
BackgroundIdentification of sex plays a vital role in forensic and medicolegal investigations. Although several studies were conducted in the past to assess sexual dimorphism in friction ridge skin characteristics, a similar study has not been attempted using creases characteristics. The present study was carried out to determine the sex differences based on creases density among the Malaysian population. A novel method was proposed by measuring creases density in 2 cm × 2 cm square at the hypothenar region on the right palmprints to evaluate its feasibility for sex discrimination purposes. A total of 150 subjects were investigated in this study.ResultsResults revealed that significant differences were observed in the creases density for males and females. Palmprint mean creases density of 3.46 creases/cm2 and 5.73 creases/cm2 were calculated in male and female subjects, respectively. Results indicated that females tended to have a significantly higher creases density than males in the selected region. Analysis using the independent sample t-test demonstrated that the creases density of males and females was significantly different (p < 0.001), with mean differences ranging between −2.90 and −1.65.ConclusionsIt is evident that palmprint creases density is a potential indicator for sex determination.
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