This work does not require hospital or medical facilities: just an ink pad and a magnifying glass

Professor Bernard Richards

In those with diabetes, the line joined a second line at a wider angle and at a point 1cm higher in the palm.

Early indications of the possible onset of diabetes give parents and clinicians adequate opportunity to come to terms with the condition.

Bernard Richards, Professor of Medical Informatics at Umist, led the team of researchers.

He said: "The relevance of this work to society is that such studies can be carried out in the poorer countries and in remote communities, such as in desert lands and in the bush.

"This work does not require hospital or medical facilities: just an ink pad and a magnifying glass."

The discovery is among a number of studies that have increasingly shown how dermatoglyphics can predict a range of conditions and diseases.

Scientists have found clues to the development of heart disease, autism, anxiety, schizophrenia and even cot death.

Dermatoglyphics develop at specific times in the foetus at the same time that critical growth in the brain is taking place.