Objective: The current study aims to compare and evaluate the fluctuating qualitative dermatoglyphic trait, Furuhata’s and Dankmeijer’s index as a risk marker in Diabetes and Parkinson’s disease patients of Guyana. This research strives for the development of a new technique for the early prediction of the disease, and its management.

Background: The peculiar pattern of dermatoglyphics has a diagnostic significance in various clinical disorders that have a strong genetic background. Parkinson’s disease is a progressive neurodegenerative disease with gait abnormalities where the patients walk slowly with shuffling and dragging steps diminished arm swing and flexed forward posture. Parkinson’s disease with diabetes and its associated high morbidity and mortality cause a significant financial burden and reduced quality of life in affected patients of Guyana and the Caribbean.

Method: The fingerprints were obtained and were analyzed for each type of pattern. The case-control study was conducted on Parkinson’s disease with diabetes patients and controls who were non-Parkinson’s non-diabetic patients admitted for various other reasons to the Georgetown Public Hospital Corporation, Guyana. Dermatoglyphics parameters such as Whorl, Arch, Loop, Double Loop whorl, etc. were studied. The Furuhata’s and Dankmeijer’s index were also calculated.

Results: Ulnar loops followed by the whorls were the predominant digital pattern noted in both hands of the Diabetes with Parkinson’s disease patients of Guyana. The controls group showed predominant whorls pattern followed by loops pattern. Furuhata’s index in cases was found to be 35 whereas in controls it was 64.7. Dankmeijer’s index in cases was found 42.8 whereas in controls it was 18.2.

Conclusion: This study supports that fingerprint patterns may be altered in several clinical disorders and similar changes were observed in various qualitative dermatoglyphic parameters in the digits of diabetes with Parkinson’s patients of Guyana. These connections can be a significant tool or of diagnostic aid from a clinical point of view and can be employed as a method of screening the high-risk population on early detection. Future studies with proper protocol, adequate cases, and control groups may provide stronger evidence to resolve uncertainty related to the etiology of Parkinson’s disease patients.

References: 1. BARBEAU A, TRUDEAU JG, COITEUX C. FINGERPRINT PATTERNS IN HUNTINGTON’S CHOREA AND PARKINSON’S DISEASE. Can Med Assoc J. 1965 Mar 6;92:514–516.

« Back to MDS Virtual Congress 2020

MDS Abstracts - https://www.mdsabstracts.org/abstract/a-fluctuating-qualitative-dermatoglyphic-trait-dankmeijers-and-furuhatas-index-as-a-risk-marker-in-diabetic-parkinsons-patients-of-guyana-a-case-control-study/