title: Palmar and digital dermatoglyphic features of hypertensive and diabetic Malawian patients.
abstract: We determined the palmar and digital dermatoglyphic features of 165 black Malawian patients with diabetes mellitus and hypertension, aged 25-66 years attending the medical outpatient clinics at Lilongwe and Queen Elizabeth Central Hospitals by analyzing their total finger ridge count (TFRC), pattern intensity index (PII), atd angle and a-b ridge counts and compared these parameters with those of healthy controls previously studied, matched for age and sex. Differences were observed only in digital ridge patterns: whorls were absent in hypertensive patients and in men with diabetes and hypertension; and there was a significant rise in percentage frequency of ulnar loops (P < 0.001) in women with hypertension. Similarly, the percentage frequencies of whorls in women with both diabetes and hypertension were significantly lower than in women with hypertension alone (P < 0.05). The TFRC differentiated healthy subjects from hypertensive men (P < 0.05) and women (P < 0.001). Equally the a-b ridge count could differentiate diabetic and hypertensive men (P < 0.001) and women (P < 0.05) just as it did for women with diabetes alone and those with diabetes and hypertension (P < 0.001). The PII and atd angle were higher in patients than in healthy subjects. A higher than normal PII suggests the occurrence of these disease conditions in this African population, thereby providing a window for intervention in later life.
authors.affiliation: Department of Anatomy, College of Medicine, University of Malawi, Blantyre 3, Malawi. Prof. P.S. Igbigbi, Department of Anatomy, College of Medicine, Private Bag 360, Chichiri, Blantyre 3, Malawi , 674700; E-mail: pigbigbi@yahoo.com.
authors.forename: Patrick S
authors.initials: PS
authors.lastname: Igbigbi
authors.affiliation: Department of Anatomy, College of Medicine, University of Malawi, Blantyre 3, Malawi. Prof. P.S. Igbigbi, Department of Anatomy, College of Medicine, Private Bag 360, Chichiri, Blantyre 3, Malawi , 674700; E-mail: pigbigbi@yahoo.com.
authors.forename: Tamiwe M
authors.initials: TM
authors.lastname: Ng'ambi