Palm creases are helpful in revealing anthropologic characteristics and diagnosing chromosomal aberrations, and have been analyzed qualitatively and quantitatively. However, previous methods of analyzing palm creases were not objective so that reproducibility could not be guaranteed. In this study, a more objective morphologic analysis of palm creases was developed. The features of the improved methods include the strict definition of major and minor palm creases and the systematic classification of major palm creases based on their relationships, branches, and variants. Furthermore, based on the analysis of 3,216 Koreans, palm creases were anthropologically interpreted. There was a tendency for palm creases to be evenly distributed on the palm, which was acknowledged by the relationship between major and minor creases as well as by the incidences of major creases types. This tendency was consistent with the role of palm creases to facilitate folding of palm skin. The union of major palm creases was frequent in males and right palms to have powerful hand grip. The new method of analyzing palm creases is expected to be widely used for anthropologic investigation and chromosomal diagnosis.
Keywords: Dermatoglyphics; analysis; physical anthropology.