Ulnar deviation of the fingers as a clinical sign in the elderly.
A significant percentage of elderly women has been found to have ulnar deviation. As measured at the middle finger, the mean deviation of 73 degrees is small, but nearly 25% of subjects showed a clinically visible deviation of between 11 degrees and 25 degrees. Ulnar deviation has been noted in subjects who are not suffering from the diseases and states commonly regarded as being important to its aetiology. In those it may represent the end-point of the progressive drift considered by some to be a normal ageing process. Whether the aetiology lies here or in one of the other diseases of the locomotor or central nervous systems is uncertain, but caution should be used when interpreting the clinical sign in the elderly.
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