Comparative Dermatoglyphic Study between Autistic Patients and Normal People in Iran

Autism is a neurodevelopmental disorder originating from early childhood; nevertheless, its diagnosis is in older ages. In addition to heredity, environmental factors are also of great significance in the etiology of the disease. Dermatoglyphic patterns, albeit varied, remain stable for a lifetime and yield a large number of patterns upon examination. Studies have shown a significant association between dermatoglyphics and some diseases, especially genetic ones. We compared fingerprints between patients with autism and normal individuals in a Fars population living in Khorasan-Razavi Province, Iran, in 2015. The right and left hand fingerprints of 104 autistic individuals (case group; age range=5–15 y) were collected using a fingerprint scanner. The same process was performed for 102 healthy individuals, in the age range of 6 to 25 years. All dermatoglyphic patterns and ridge counts were determined. The data were analyzed using the Mann–Whitney nonparametric test and binomial distribution. There was a significant difference in the distribution of the dermatoglyphic patterns on the right and left thumbs and the index fingers between the case and control groups (P