Lip print pattern variations in the population of Vojvodina Province, Serbia: A pilot study

Introduction. Lip prints are considered to be an important form of transfer evidence, analogous to fingerprints, and can be very useful in forensic investigations and personal identification. Although previous studies have confirmed that lip print patterns are individual and unique for each person, they show similarities between family members, strongly indicating the possibility of inheritance pattern of lip prints. Since heredity may play an important role in lip print development, ethnic groups geographically closely located tend to share similar patterns of lip prints in comparison to more distant populations, so a characteristic lip pattern may indicate a person's geographical and racial origin. Material and Methods. Lip prints of 211 healthy individuals (107 females and 104 males), residents of Vojvodina Province, Serbia, were analyzed and classified using the Suzuki and Tsuchihashi classification. Results. In the studied sample, type II pattern was the most common in both the upper and lower lip, being predominant in 45.85% of the studied samples. It was followed by types III, I, and IV accounting for 31.28%, 15.28% and 4.62%, respectively. The results of the current study are in accordance with the results of previous studies of European populations. The Pearson chi-square test showed a statistically significant difference between the lip print patterns in males and females. Conclusion. A comparison of lip print patterns between males and females showed a statistically significant difference, supporting the hypothesis that lip prints may be useful in sex determination.