Publication Details
Age, sex and positional variations in the human epidermal ridge breadth by multiple measurements on a crosssectional sample of schoolage children
Koníková Linda, Mgr.
Arslan Aysel, M.A.
Polcerová Lenka, Mgr.
Čuta Martin, Mgr., Ph.D.
Hložek Martin, Mgr., Ph.D.
Klíma Ondřej, Ing., Ph.D. (DCGM)
Epidermal ridge breadth, Age estimation, Sex estimation, Dermatoglyphics
A number of studies have used the measurement of density of epidermal ridges on
human fingerprints (or average epidermal ridge breadth if the value is expressed
in reverse) as a metric to estimate the age of the originator of the imprint at
the time of growth and sex at maturity. A methodologically unsolved question is
how the number of ridges measured together within one segment (or the length of
the line segment across which the ridges are counted) affects the results. In
this study, we therefore investigated how the count of ridges measured together
within one segment, as well as the count of averaged segments per subject, when
averaged, affect the resulting values of mean epidermal ridge breadth. Moreover,
we investigated how different regions on the human fingers and palms differ in
this respect. Using a cross-sectional sample of 90 school children (45 girls and
45 boys, age range from 6 to 16 years) from South Moravia, we compared the
differences in epidermal ridge breadth in 29 different hand regions, particularly
in terms of the degree of age differences. The results show that different
regions on the hand vary significantly in the effect of age which might have
consequences for estimating age and sex based on these epidermal ridge breadth
measurements. However, the ability to statistically distinguish age or sex groups
is affected by the number of measurement units (ridges, fingerprints) used to
calculate mean epidermal ridge breadth. Therefore, in future research, it would
be advisable to introduce computation with interval estimates of MRB or
a hierarchical approach directly accounting for individual epidermal ridges.
@article{BUT179688,
author="Miroslav {Králík} and Linda {Koníková} and Aysel {Arslan} and Lenka {Polcerová} and Martin {Čuta} and Martin {Hložek} and Ondřej {Klíma}",
title="Age, sex and positional variations in the human epidermal ridge breadth by multiple measurements on a crosssectional sample of schoolage children",
journal="Anthropologie",
year="2022",
volume="60",
number="2",
pages="379--402",
doi="10.26720/anthro.22.09.26.1",
issn="2570-9127",
url="http://puvodni.mzm.cz/Anthropologie/article.php?ID=2372"
}