Study of male and female plantar dermatoglyphics in hilly and plain areas

Abstract

The Plantar dermatoglyphics is defined as the scientific study of the ridge configurations existing on the skin of the soles and toes of the feet. The plantar dermatoglyphic prints were obtained by the conventional ink and roller method and analyzed to find out dimorphic differences as well as variations in the plantar dermatogyphic features between different populations. The results depicted that the female subjects showed an increase in arches (38.5%) whereas the male subjects had an increase in loops (63.45%) and whorls (15.25%) in the population residing in the hilly areas and the difference between the presence of loops was highly significant (p=0.000) and between the presence of arches was significant (p0.05). Significant association between gender and the combined plantar dermatoglyphic print patterns of all digits and all the topographical areas of the sole of each foot was reported in both the set of our populations and this imply the influence of gender on the plantar dermatoglyphic patterns. Therefore, Plantar dermatoglyphic patterns and indices can be used as an important tool for the determination of sex for forensic and medico- legal purposes. The results obtained in our study further demonstrate that the analyzed plantar dermatoglyphic patterns can be considered as a good set of sole features to be used in finding the biological relationships between some different ethnic groups residing in different geographical areas. newline