A comparative study on digit ratio and hand patterns of three ethnic races of Malaysia

Background: To distinguish the characteristic hand pattern of each of the three different ethnicities in Malaysia and to study the hand pattern correlation between race and gender. Method: Individual lengths of the fingers were then measured and tabulated to serve as the basis for analyzing the 2D (second digit):4D (fourth digit) hand ratio. Based on this ration, the hand patterns were classified as A, B, and C types. Results: Hand pattern A (2D<4D) appears to be the most characteristic trait in Malays. The highest scoring hand pattern in Chinese is A as well with scores of 52% in their right hands and 60% in their left hands. In Indians, hand pattern C (2D>4D) shows dominance in their right hands with a score of 46% while hand pattern A dominates their left hands. Among the males, all three races show dominance in hand pattern A except in Chinese whereby the C hand pattern was dominant in their right hands (44%). Among the females, the most common trait in Malays and Chinese are the hand pattern A in both their hands. Indian females, however, showed dominance in hand pattern C in their right hands (60%), and hand pattern B (2D = 4D) dominated in their left hands (44%). Results of the statistical analysis revealed that there was a highly significant difference in the hand patterns of both the hands when compared to gender. Conclusion: The study suggests that ratio below or equal to 0.90 is suggestive of female sex for both hands, while a ratio of more than 0.91 is suggestive of male sex for both hands. The pattern A (2D<4D) is seen to be the most common trait among the three ethnicities of Malaysia with an exception seen in the right hands of Indians.