A Study On the Dermatoglyphic Pattern of the Right Thumb Among Malaysian Medical Students

Dermatoglyphics is considered as one of the most suitable parameters for population variability studies. The aim of this study was to investigate the dominating dermatoglyphic patterns of the right thumb among the medical students belonging to three ethnic races of Malaysia i.e. Malay, Chinese and Indian. Right thumb impression from the students were collected and analysed. The fingerprints were classified and analysed according to their patterns, races and gender. Results were expressed in percentages. We found that whorl pattern is more common among Chinese and loops have the highest frequency among Indians and Malays. Dermatoglyphic patterns act as reliable markers which may be used as preliminary tools applicable prior to conducting any intra-group genetic studies on population diversity and differentiation.