Body-part indicator studies: How do you view them? - CBC.ca

 

The length of a man's index finger can indicate his risk of prostate cancer, says a report in the British Journal of Cancer ,adding to a growing list of studies relating finger length to various patterns.

Reported by the BBC, the study linking finger length to a risk of prostate cancer suggests men whose index finger is longer than their ring finger are significantly less likely to develop the disease. Researchers examined the hands of 1,500 prostate cancer patients as well as 3,000 healthy men for comparison.

Being exposed to less testosterone before birth could reduce the risk of prostate cancer, and it is thought that a long index finger is an indication of that minimized exposure, as finger length is determined before birth.

This report isn't the first to make the rounds, however. In 2006, a study out of King's College in England suggested finger length was linked to women's ability in sports, and in 2009, a study from Cambridge University found that male high-frequency financial traders with ring fingers longer than their index finger tended to be more successful.

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