Abstract: The purpose of this paper is to analyze the fluctuating asymmetry (FA) of the dermatoglyphic count in individuals with congenital heart disease (CHD) from Ningxia, China. Fluctuating asymmetry refers to small random deviations from perfect symmetry in bilaterally paired structure, and is the result of interactions between developmental disturbance and developmental stability. Fluctuating asymmetry has a low heritability, and can be a measure of individual quality but also an indicator of developmental stability. Computing FA was done using the absolute differences between bilateral measurements ( calculated as FA = | R - L | ) , and in order to avoid count and measure error, we choose the equation, FA ij = 100 ×| (XiR - XiL ) /0. 5 ×(XiR - XiL)-1/n×[(XiR - XiL)/0.5×(XiR - XiL)].A random sample of 129 CHDs(59 males and 70 females) was compared to 133 healthy controls (69 male and 64 female), with a study of 13 FA counts between them. The results were as follows: 1. There was no significant difference between two sexes in both CHDs and controls in all 13 FA counts; 2. There was a significant difference in FA VI and FA VII between two groups, and that CHD patients had significantly higher FA rates. These results may indicate that during the course of fetal development, the CHD fetus is much more senstive to a variety of external environmental factors and thus，has higher developmental instability.

Key words: Congenital heart disease; Dermatoglyphics; Fluctuating asymmetry; Developmental stability