Dermatoglyphic peculiarities in hypospadias.

The digital and palmar dermatoglyphics of 33 children with hypospadias were studied. Compared to a control group of 620 normal males the children with hypospadias showed the following statistically significant differences: (1) A lower frequency of whorls and a higher frequency of ulnar loops on fingers (32.4% whorls and 60.0% ulnar loops vs. 42.4% whorls and 50.2% ulnar loops in controls); (2) a high frequency of individuals with hypothenar radial loops on both palms (24.2 vs 8.8% in controls); (3) a high percentage of pairs of homologous fingers with the same pattern type on both fingers (82.4 vs. 73.3% in controls), and (4) an increased degree of bilateral symmetry of finger ridge counts (A, a measure of the asymmetry of ridge counts on homologous fingers, is 6.52 vs 8.08 in controls).