ABSTRACT
Fingerprint evidence is undoubtedly the most reliable and acceptable evidence till date in the court of law. Due to the immense potential of fingerprints as an effective method of identification an attempt has been made in the present work to: 1- Study the distribution of fingerprint pattern among the participants having different ABO and Rh blood groups. 2- Study any relationship between their characters and blood groups. A cross-sectional study was conducted on 310 male students aged from 22-30 years in the first grade of the King-Fahad Security College Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. This study was carried out over a period of 3 months from March to May 2011. The plain fingerprints of all the ten digits were taken separately on the respective blocks on the sheet of paper. The details of their blood group were registered from their college identity cards. Statistical analysis of the obtained data showed that the majority of the subjects [54.5%] in the study were of blood group O followed by blood group A [28.8%], then blood group B [13.5%] and AB [3.2%]. Rh positive cases constituted about [91.9%] of all the studied cases. The general distribution pattern of fingerprints showed high frequency of loops[48.1%] followed by whorls [47.0%] and arches [4.9%]. There was a statistical significant difference among blood groups as regards pattern of fingerprints. Whorls were the commonest type of fingerprints in participants with blood groups A [48.3%], B[54.0%] and AB [59.0%] while, loops were the predominant pattern among participants with blood group O [50.2%]. Whorls are the predominant pattern of fingerprints in participants with Rh positive and Rh negative blood groups A [47.8% and 53.8%], B [54.9% and 48.0%], AB [56.3% and 70.0%] respectively and in Rh negative blood group O [53.0%]. Otherwise loops predominated in Rh positive blood group O [50.6%].Whorls were the most frequent fingerprint pattern in all types of ABO blood groups as regards ring, index and thumb fingers. The total fingers ridges count [TFRC] was significantly greater in blood group O. The study suggests relationship between fingerprints pattern and blood groups. We recommend further studies to be done on larger samples