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The Presence of Minor Physical Anomalies of a Hand in Patients with Mental Disorders

Paula Marinovic1, Laura Pavicic, Nikola Prpic

  • 1Department of Psychiatry and Psychological Medicine, University Hospital Center Zagreb, Kispaticeva 12, 10000 Zagreb, Croatia, paula.marinovic77@gmail.com.

Psychiatria Danubina
|October 18, 2022
PubMed

Insights

Minor physical anomalies (MPA) in the hand showed significant differences between patients with psychosis and healthy individuals. However, specific MPA patterns did not distinguish schizophrenia from other psychotic disorders.

Area of Science:

  • Psychiatry
  • Developmental Psychology
  • Medical Genetics

Background:

  • Minor physical anomalies (MPA) are subtle prenatal morphological deviations.
  • MPA may indicate concurrent prenatal brain structural changes.
  • Investigating hand MPA as potential diagnostic markers in psychiatric disorders.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To determine if hand MPA can differentiate psychotic patients from non-psychotic patients and healthy controls.
  • To explore the diagnostic utility of MPA in distinguishing psychiatric conditions.

Main Methods:

  • Case-control study involving 100 psychiatric patients and 100 healthy controls.
  • Blind examination of hand's dorsal and palmar sides for specific MPA.
  • Assessed MPA included thenar crease, transverse crease, joint anomalies, and digital flexibility.

Main Results:

  • Significant differences in the quantity of MPA were observed between patient and control groups.
  • Distinguishable differences in MPA quantity were found between psychotic patients and healthy subjects.

Conclusions:

  • This study did not find specific MPA distributions characteristic of schizophrenia.
  • All examined MPA were equally prevalent in schizophrenia and other psychotic disorders.
  • Hand MPA quantity differs between psychiatric patients and controls, but specific patterns lack diagnostic power for psychosis subtypes.
Abstract

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