Objective To investigate dermatoglyphic patterns in 95 nonsyndromic Filipino subjects with nonsyndromic cleft lip with or without cleft palate (CL/P) and 90 of their unaffected relatives. Design Retrospective study of dermatoglyphic pattern types. Setting Negros Occidental and Cavite in the Philippines. Participants Nonsyndromic subjects with CL/P and their unaffected relatives. Methods Dermatoglyphic patterns were categorized as arch, ulnar loop, radial loop, whorl, or other by three independent raters. Pattern data from the subjects, the unaffected relatives, and an unaffected control population (from the literature) were compared using chi-square tests. As a measure of asymmetry, dissimilarity between pattern types on homologous fingers was quantified and compared using Student's t tests. Results The frequency of arches (p = .016) and ulnar loops (p = .04) were significantly increased, and whorls decreased in the affected group (p = .0015), compared with the unaffected group. Affected female subjects had significantly more ulnar loops and arches (p = .009 and p = .023, respectively) and fewer whorls (p < .0001) than the unaffected female subjects. There were no significant differences between affected and unaffected male subjects. Dissimilarity scores were significantly different between male and female subjects and between subjects with CL/P and unaffected relatives. Additionally, pattern type frequencies for the relatives fell in between the frequencies for the CL/P group and the controls. Conclusions In this Filipino population, differences in frequency of dermatoglyphic pattern types and pattern dissimilarity exist between individuals with orofacial clefts and their unaffected relatives and between both groups and controls, with the major effect seen in female subjects.
A MEASURE OF ASYMMETRY FOR MULTI-WAY CONTINGENCY TABLES WITH ORDERED CATEGORIES
