A cross-sectional study on Palmaris Longus Agenesis in the General Population of Karachi, Pakistan

Objective: The current study was designed to observe the prevalence of Palmaris longus (PL) agenesis in the general population of Karachi and to establish the relationship with hand dominance, gender and language-based ethnicity. An effort to find an association between the diagnostic test in the Pakistani population was also made.Methods: A cross-sectional study using snowball sampling was conducted in the general population of Karachi, with the primary inclusion criteria being the absence of any hand deformities or previous hand/forearm surgeries or accidents. Based on a 32% prevalence of PL agenesis found in a prior study, a sample size of 334 participants was determined. Scheffer’s, Pushpakumar’s, Mishra’s, and Thompson’s tests were performed to evaluate PL agenesis. The Pearson’s ÷2 test of correlation andCohen ê test of method association were conducted using SPSS-20.Results: Female participants in the study constituted 67%, and 86.7% of the participants were students. PL agenesis was found to be 28% in total, with 12.7% bilateral and 14% unilateral cases. No differences in hand dominance or gender were observed in the current study. However, the Urduspeaking population showed the highest prevalence at 31% compared to other language-basedethnicities. A strong association between tests was identified in the Pakistani population as well.Conclusion: PL agenesis appears to be on the rise after 2020, possibly due to increased use of gadgets and decreased physical activity among the younger generation, especially in urban areas, leading to tendon degeneration. A detailed multi-dimensional study is recommended to determine the role of decreased physical activity in the development of PL agenesis.