5. Original Scientific Paper Digit ratio and its relationship with height, weight and BMI among the Santal community of Purba Bardhaman, West Bengal, India by A. Ray, S. Sobnam, A. Mukhopadhyay, S. Biswas, M. Bhadra Abstract Over the past twenty years, numerous studies have investigated the connection between the biomarker known as the digit ratio (2D:4D) and various indicators of pre- and post-natal stress during development. This research is based on the premise that the digit ratio may act as a potential indicator of prenatal exposure to androgens and oestrogens. In the present study, height, weight and BMI have been selected to serve as indicators of developmental stress and whether there is any association or correlation with digit ratio (2D:4D) or whether digit ratio is a sufficient predictor of said stress indicators. 359 Santal males were sampled randomly from various blocks of the Purba Bardhaman district of West Bengal, India to have their height, weight and digit lengths measured. Digit ratios of both hands were then correlated with height and linear regression models were constructed to predict relevant significant variable(s) with digit ratios as the predictors. After categorizing the digit ratios as ordinal categories with quartile classification, Kruskal-Wallis test was then performed to test any significant differences between the said categories in terms of dependent variables. Only height correlated significantly negatively with digit ratios of both hands at p < 0.01 level. Upon regressing the digit ratios with height as the dependent variable, R2 values of 0.032 and 0.011 were found for the left and right hands respectively. Significantly higher height was observed in the low category of digit ratio in comparison to the very high category. It can be concluded from the study that digit ratio can be used as a predictor of height but yields a poor linear model fit. Download Complete Article