ABSTRACT
Finger and hand prints are formed during the late first and second trimester of fetal development, and then remain unchanged. Schizophrenia is a psychotic disease that coexists with structural and biochemical changes of CNS. It is probably under the influence of environmental and/or genetic factors. There are some suggestions that disturbance in the dermatoglyphic patterns are probably in relationship with the appearance of schizophrenia. It seems that this disturbance appears in the first and second trimesters of fetal development, which is a critical period for CNS growth. We have studied the dermatoglyphic changes in 91 schizophrenic patients [49M, 42F] in Ebne Sina Psychosis Hospital of Mashhad, and have compared them with those of 72 healthy controls [42M, 30F]. The x2 test was used for quantitative and T-test for qualitative data analysis. The results showed a significant reduction of TABRC between healthy and patient. The forms of Loop and Arch are heterogeneous and compared to the control group were significant [P=.0/04,P=0/036]. In conclusion, these results provide further evidence that abnormal dermatoglyphic patterns exist in some patients with schizophrenia, and that, the a-b ridge count can be used as a marker of this psychotic disease, and support the idea that the incidence of schizophrenia maybe due to the adverse intrauterine events. Because these events probably affect the brain, behavior and finger print patterns, dermatoglyphics would be a proper method for prognosis of some cases of schizophrenia