title: [Dermatoglyphic patterns in celiac disease].
abstract: In 1990 a project was performed in Israel in which the authors reported a higher frequency of whorls and a lower frequency of ulnar loops in the dermatoglyphic pattern of children with celiac disease than in children belonging to control group. Based on these findings we carried out a similar study with our local population. Thirty six celiac children, their parents and siblings had their fingerprints analysed and compared to a control group matching for age, sex and race, in order to assess the efficiency of this method for the diagnosis of celiac disease. A statistically significant higher frequency of whorls and arches was found in celiac children than in control group (whorls = 40.6%, arches = 11.7%; whorls = 30.3%, arches = 5.0%, respectively) as well as a strong correlation between the dermatoglyphic pattern of the parents and their celiac children. There was also a statistically higher frequency of whorls > = 4 in celiac children (55.6%) than in controls (30.6%). The conclusion is that the dermatoglyphic pattern analysis can be used as a complementary data. Due to its low sensitivity (55.6%) and specificity (69.4%) considering the presence of four or more whorls, it is not useful as a screening or as a method itself, for the diagnosis of celiac disease.
authors.affiliation: Disciplina de Gastroenterologia Pediátrica Universidade Federal de São Paulo, Escola Paulista de Medicina-EPM-UNIFESP.
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Tahan
authors.forename: E H
authors.initials: EH
authors.lastname: Medeiros
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Wehba
mesh_terms: D002446:Celiac Disease / Q000175:diagnosis*; D002648:Child; D003878:Dermatoglyphics; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D012680:Sensitivity and Specificity
vernacular_title: Padrões dermatoglíficos na doença celíaca.