title: Longitudinal and retrospective study has demonstrated morphometric variations in the fingerprints of elderly individuals.
abstract: Dermatoglyphics can be found in the thick skin of both hands and feet which make the identification process possible, however morphological changes throughout life can affect identification in elderly individuals. Considering that dermatoglyphics is an important biometric method, due to it being practical and inexpensive, this longitudinal and retrospective study was aimed to evaluate the morphological variations in fingerprints obtained from men and women (n=20) during their adult and elderly stages of life; the time between obtaining the two fingerprints was 33.5±9.4 years. For the morphometric analysis, an area of 1 cm(2) was selected to quantify the visible friction ridges, minutiae, interpapillary and white lines, and later side-by-side confrontation was used to determine the identity of the individuals. Our results showed a reduction of friction ridges, an increase in the number of white lines for the group (men and women) and a decrease in the number of interpapillary lines in the group of women. It also showed that the selection of compatible fingerprints by the automated AFIS/VRP system allowed the identification of 23 individuals (57.5%), but when the identification was made by the automated AFIS/VRP system, followed by the analysis of archived patterns to eliminate incompatible fingerprints, determination of the identity of 28 individuals (70.0%) was possible. The dermatoglyphics of the elderly suffered morphometric changes that prevented the identification of 30% of them, probably due to the aging process, and pointed to the importance of improving the methods of obtaining fingerprints to clarify issues related to the identification of the elderly.
authors.affiliation: Lara Rosana Vieira Silva: Identification Institute, Civil Police of the Federal District, SAI Sudoeste, Bloco A, Ed. Sede, Brasilia 70610-200, Federal District, Brazil. Electronic address: lararosana@hotmail.com.
authors.forename: Lara Rosana Vieira
authors.initials: LR
authors.lastname: Silva
authors.affiliation: Leila Lopes Mizokami: Identification Institute, Civil Police of the Federal District, SAI Sudoeste, Bloco A, Ed. Sede, Brasilia 70610-200, Federal District, Brazil. Electronic address: leilamizokami@gmail.com.
authors.forename: Leila Lopes
authors.initials: LL
authors.lastname: Mizokami
authors.affiliation: Paola Rabello Vieira: Identification Institute, Civil Police of the Federal District, SAI Sudoeste, Bloco A, Ed. Sede, Brasilia 70610-200, Federal District, Brazil. Electronic address: palolar@hotmail.com.
authors.forename: Paola Rabello
authors.initials: PR
authors.lastname: Vieira
authors.affiliation: Area of Morphology, Faculty of Medicine, University of Brasilia, Campus Darcy Ribeiro, Brasilia, 70910-000, Federal District, Brazil. Electronic address: selmask@gmail.com.
authors.forename: Selma Aparecida Souza
authors.initials: SA
authors.lastname: Kuckelhaus
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000367:Age Factors; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D000375:Aging; D003878:Dermatoglyphics; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008137:Longitudinal Studies; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D055815:Young Adult
keywords: Aging; Dermatoglyphics; Elderly; Identification; Morphometry