Determination of Familial Inheritance of Human External Ear Pattern Among the Urhobos in Delta State, Nigeria.

Aim: This study determined the familial inheritance of the external ear pattern among the Urhobos in Delta State, Nigeria.Materials and Methods: Multistage sampling was employed in this study. Entirety of 11 families were randomly selected from 9 towns. There was stratified sampling such that equal number of male and female subjects were selected. A total of 100 families (100 fathers, 100 mothers and 200 offspring) were examined. The subjects were examined physically and completed a questionnaire regarding gender and ethnicity. The morphological characteristics of the ear were studied in otoscans of persons within each family. The digital images were transferred into a computer by a universal serial bus (USB) cord. Computer assisted analyses of the ear images were done using AutoCAD software (version 2022). Data obtained was analyzed with the Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS), version 26.0. Ear morphology of the same side was matched between parents and offspring. Measurement of agreement was performed by kappa coefficient and gender association was sought by chi-square test. Value of agreement or association less than 0.05 was considered statistically significant.Results: The external ear pattern (shape of the ear, shape of the tragus and shape of the helix) are substantially heritable from parents to offspring. A large likelihood ratio with a significant level of agreement (p<0.05) is the finding for each trait.Conclusion: The research established baseline data on the external ear pattern among Urhobo subjects. The study highlights the heritability of the external ear pattern.