Discriminant analysis of dermatoglyphic sole and palm patterns in Danish cri du chat probands and normal controls

Dermatoglyphic sole and palm patterns were studied in Danish cri du chat probands and in two control groups in order to estimate the diagnostic usefulness of the patterns. A linear discriminant function was developed based on three sole variables (I, III, IV) and four palm patterns (I, axial triradius, simian lines and IV + IVU + IVD), respectively. The palm patterns gave a better separation than the sole patterns. Only one of the 31 probands was not classified correctly from both sole and palm patterns. Dermatoglyphic analysis may therefore be of some diagnostic use along with other clinical features in cases with suspicion of the cri du chat syndrome.