Further evidence that congenital dermatoglyphic abnormalities are associated with psychosis: a twin study.
The presence of abnormal palmar flexion creases (APFC) and dermatoglyphic ridge dissociation (RD) may constitute enduring evidence of a prenatal insult that occurred before the third trimester of intrauterine life. We examined these dermatoglyphic abnormalities in a twin study of psychotic disorders. RD and APFC were analyzed in a monozygotic (MZ) twin sample from the Maudsley Hospital in London (11 normal control pairs, 16 pairs concordant for psychosis, 9 pairs discordant for psychosis, 1 concordant triplet, and 1 triplet with one affected member). The risk of either RD or APFC was 44 percent in affected twins and 20 percent in nonaffected twins (odds ratio = 3.25, 95% confidence interval: 1.03-10.31; one-sided p = 0.023). In the group of MZ twins discordant for psychosis, discordance for RD or APFC always paralleled discordance for psychosis (one-sided p = 0.078), suggesting the operation of nongenetic factors. The results confirm previous work suggesting the possibility that nongenetic factors early in pregnancy contribute to the liability to develop psychosis in later life.
Rosa
Araceli
A
Laboratori d'Antropologia, Facultat de Biologia, Universitat de Barcelona, Spain.
Fañanás
Lourdes
L
van Os
Jim
J
Ribchester
Tracy
T
Davies
Nadia
N
Arias
Bárbara
B
McDonald
Alison
A
Murray
Robin M
RM
D000328:Adult; D003878:Dermatoglyphics; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D011446:Prospective Studies; D011618:Psychotic Disorders / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000235:genetics* / Q000523:psychology*; D014427:Twins / Q000235:genetics / Q000523:psychology; D014430:Twins, Monozygotic / Q000235:genetics / Q000523:psychology / Q000706:statistics & numerical data