Abstracts - Posters
Prenatal Maternal Stress During Specific Weeks of Pregnancy Predict Greater Finger-Ridge Count Asymmetry
Adham Mancini-Marie1, D. Laplante, E. Walker, A. Brunet, A. Ciampi and S. King
1University of Montreal
adham.mancini-marie@umontreal.ca
Dermatoglyphic asymmetry of finger ridge counts are hypothesized to reflect disruptions in foetal development during weeks 14-22 when fingerprints are formed. There are, however, no data in humans linking specific adverse events at specific times to dermatoglyphic asymmetries.
Our goal was to determine whether prenatal exposure to a natural disaster (1998 Quebec Ice Storm) during weeks 14-22 would result in increased dermatoglyphic asymmetry in children. We predicted that children whose mothers were without electricity during weeks 14-22 of pregnancy (exposure group) would exhibit greater dermatoglyphic asymmetries than those exposed to the crisis earlier or later in pregnancy (non-exposure). Ridge counts for homologous fingers have been scored for 72 children (19 exposure; 53 non-exposure) from our sample of 110.
Children in the exposure group exhibited greater average ridge count asymmetry (M = 4.1 ridges; SD = 1.7) than children in the pre- or post-exposure group (M = 2.8 ridges; SD = 1.7; p< .005). We conclude that maternal exposure to a stressful event during the period of fingerprint development results in greater dermatoglyphic asymmetry in their children. Because fingerprint development overlaps with hippocampal development (weeks 9-19), children exposed to prenatal stress in mid-gestation may also exhibit hippocampal abnormalities.
2005-04-06 |
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