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Schizophrenic? Check your fingers, chaps.

Asymmetry has a potential utility as a diagnostic test in determining the presence of schizophrenia

[dropcap style=”font-size:100px; color:#992211;”]P[/dropcap]layground pathology always had it that the first sign of madness was hair growing on your palms.

And the second sign, hurr hurr, was checking for it.

The bona fide scientific community now offers something similar, suggesting that a ring finger longer than the index finger might indicate a propensity to schizophrenia.

Bet you looked.


Research suggests that the ratio of the lengths of the index finger and the ring finger in males may be predictive of a variety of disorders related to disturbed hormonal balance. When the index finger is shorter than the ring finger, this results in a small 2D:4D ratio, pointing to a high exposure to testosterone in the uterus.

In a new study of 103 male patients diagnosed with schizophrenia and 100 matched healthy male individuals, investigators found that the 2D:4D ratio may be an effective predictor of schizophrenia –hand by monkeyparty there were significant differences between schizophrenia and control groups concerning the ratio of the lengths of the second digit to the fourth digit, as well as its asymmetry, in both hands.

“Asymmetry index showed moderate discriminatory power and, therefore asymmetry index has a potential utility as a diagnostic test in determining the presence of schizophrenia,” said Dr. Taner Oznur, co-author of the Clinical Anatomy study.

Source: Wiley
Image: Monkeyparty

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