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The effect of a pattern in palmar interdigital II on a ‐ b ridge count in black and white down syndrome cases and controls
Author(s) -
Davee Margaret Anne,
Reed Terry,
Plato Chris C.
Publication year - 1989
Publication title -
american journal of physical anthropology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.146
H-Index - 119
eISSN - 1096-8644
pISSN - 0002-9483
DOI - 10.1002/ajpa.1330780312
Subject(s) - ridge , down syndrome , medicine , anatomy , biology , psychiatry , paleontology
An unconfirmed study by Fang (Ph.D. thesis, Univ. of London, 1950) in Britain showed that individuals with Down syndrome had lower total a ‐ b ridge counts in palmar Interdigital area II (ID II) than a group of controls. This study compares 603 white Down syndrome cases and 93 black Down syndrome cases with 668 white and 402 black controls. Our results confirm those of Fang in that the Down syndrome cases in both racial groups had lower total a ‐ b ridge counts than their respective controls. In addition, the black controls and Down syndrome cases had lower a ‐ b ridge counts than their white counterparts. The mean a ‐ b ridge count was significantly lower in individuals with a pattern in ID II compared to individuals without a pattern in ID II in both the Down syndrome and control groups. Some of the lower a ‐ b ridge counts in the Down syndrome samples can be accounted for by the fact that there is an increased frequency of a pattern in ID II in Down syndrome cases. Both Down syndrome and normal individuals who had a pattern unilaterally had a lower than expected a ‐ b ridge count on the contralateral hand that did not have a pattern. There was a tendency also for increased asymmetry in Down syndrome cases with a pattern in ID II.