Abstract
Background: Dermatoglyphics is the study of epidermal ridges and their configurations on the skin of the palms and soles of the foot. The patterns can be grouped into loops, whorls, and arches each of them having a unique characteristic that appears to be influenced by genetic factors. Diabetes Mellitus is a common metabolic disorder caused by reduced insulin secretion. Type 2 diabetes results from genetic disorders involving multiple genes that control insulin secretion and action. This study aimed to assess the variations in fingerprint patterns among adults with Type II diabetes mellitus which could be used as an early, easy, cheap and painless method of screening diabetes.
 Materials and Methods: A comparative cross-sectional study design was used where 150 diabetic patients were compared with 150 non-diabetics as controls all selected from Kakamega County Teaching Referral Hospital, Western Kenya. Socio- demographic data and family history were recorded, thereafter fingerprints were taken using the Indian ink method. The chi-square test was used to check for a significant association between the pattern variations in diabetics and the control group.
 Results: The study involved 300 respondents where 33.33% were aged above 60 years with females being the majority at 60.67 % while among diabetics 68 % had a family history of diabetes. Whorl (p=0.0003) and ulna loops (p=0.002) patterns were decreased among male diabetics when compared to male non-diabetics while in female diabetics, whorl patterns were increased (p=0.02929) when compared to female non- diabetics. There was an association between whorl patterns and family history among diabetics (p=0.049). Ulna loops were significantly low (p=0.004) while whorls were significantly high (p=0.016) among diabetics when compared to non-diabetics.
 Conclusion: This study showed that dermatoglyphic patterns could be used as a feature for early screening of type II diabetes.
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