Comparison of dermatoglyphic finger ridge counts of igbo and okrika people of Southern Nigeria

Background: The term dermatoglyphics is coined from two Greek words `DERMA` and `GLYPHE` which means skin and carve respectively, which refer to the friction ridge formation that appears on the palms of the hands and soles of the feet. Dermatoglyphics has found application in establishing ethnic differences. Finger ridgecounts are important for identification of an individual’s true identity. There is dearth of information on the Finger Ridge Counts of the Igbos’ and Okrikas’ in Southern Nigeria. Aim and Objective: This study was aimed at determining the Finger Ridge Counts of the Igbos’ and Okirikas’ in Southern Nigeria. Materials and Methods: The study was non-experimental and analytical. A total of two hundred subjects were used for the study. 100 Igbos and 100 Okrikas, all of which were normal subjects. These subjects were randomly selected through simple random sampling method from Igbo and Okrika Population. One–way Anova test was done using Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS 20.0 version). Result and Discussions: The test of significance revealed significant differences between the distribution of Right ring finger and Left little finger of Igbo and Okrika subjects (P<0.05). The study showed in the distribution of the ridges amongst the Igbos where the males had higher distributions than the female subjects consistently. In the Okrika population, sexual dimorphism was not prominent as was seen in the Igbo population.On comparison the Igbos had higher mean ridge count in the ridge distribution than Okrikas which may be attributed to the difference in genetic make-up of both tribes. The ADT angles revealed that the Okrikas’ had higher values than the Igbos consistently in both sexes which could be explained to be a result of difference in the genetic make-up of both tribes. Conclusion: This study established handedness, sexual dimorphism in ridge distribution, a trend in the ADT angular dimensions of the hand and revealed that both tribes are distinct and unique in their genetic makeup as such are unrelated by any means in their ancestry and the little similarity in the ridge distribution could only have occurred by chance.