Provider: Moravian Museum, Brno, Czech Republic

TY  - JOUR
JO  - Anthropologie (Brno)
TI  - RELATIONSHIPS BETWEEN HEIGHT GROWTH
IN ADOLESCENCE AND DERMATOGLYPHIC
RADIOULNAR RIDGE COUNT CONTRASTS
IN THE CHILDREN AND THEIR MOTHERS
AU  - Čuta M
AU  - Polcerová L
AU  - Klíma O
AU  - Škultétyová A
AU  - Zemčík P
AU  - Králík M
Y1  - 2022
VL  - 60
IS  - 2
PB  - Moravian Museum, Brno, Czech Republic
SN  - 0323-1119
SP  - 0
EP  - 0
KW  - Prenatal sex differentiation – Pubertal growth – Growth modelling – Dermatoglyphics – Radioulnar
contrasts
N2  - 
N2  - The prenatal setting/programming of human postnatal growth is an under-researched area even though
the effects of prenatal programming on the human body and its functions are considerable. The aim of this association
study was to determine whether there is a link between postnatal growth in adolescence and dermatoglyphics as putative
markers of prenatal sex differentiation. The sample is represented by data acquired in three subsequent years of a semilongitudinal
study; the total sample included 166 participants. 83 participants were children aged 0–18 years (43 boys).
The adults were represented by their mothers. A recently developed method based on Functional Principal Component
Analysis was used for prediction of individual adolescent growth milestones, including age at peak velocity, which were
correlated with dermatoglyphic between-finger ridge count contrasts of the studied children and their mothers. We found
that children's own dermatoglyphic traits correlated more with growth milestones in boys than in girls, while mothers'
dermatoglyphic traits correlated more with girls' growth milestones. The strongest correlations were often provided by
contrasts calculated from the ridge count of the 2nd or 4th finger, which appear to be most closely related to prenatal sex
determination. Despite the limitations of this pilot study, it is the first study of the association between dermatoglyphics
and postnatal growth in adolescence. When considered in a biological context, the results provide a promising basis for
searching for prenatal origins of variation in some aspects (timing, velocity) of postnatal growth that can be further
tested and elaborated in future independent studies.
ER  -