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Common Diseases in Isolated Adriatic Communities and Family Aggregation of Intermediate Diseases Endpoints

The frequencies of most common chronic diseases in several isolated Middle Dalmatia communities and family aggregation of the risk phenotype for the disease in question are compared with the aim to detect potentially promising target populations for linkage studies. The anthropometric and blood pressure data used in this study are a subset of the extensive material collected from the random (non-selected) sample of inhabitants of the Middle Dalmatia islands. The number of subjects included in pedigree sample was determined by the coincidence that two (or more) participants of the original random sample are the members of the same family. Frequencies of the most common diseases in each community have been established via questionnaire. Complex segregation analysis of family data has been performed by applying the usual transmission probability tests and the hypothesis has been tested that a significant part of the variation of each of tested characteristics is controlled by the putative large-effect gene. Comparison of the results obtained on three different subpopulations (islands) indicate the heterogeneity within sample in the genetic determination of the measured disease endpoints (blood pressure, obesity indicators etc). Since environmental conditions as well as gene frequencies (and consecutively gene-gene and gene-environment interactions) are not uniformly shared in all human populations, some variations according to the particular gene pool and environmental conditions could be expected and analyses as this one could show directions for choosing the most appropriate population for particular disease endpoint for incoming linkage studies.

segregation analysis; common diseases; isolated populations; genetic epidemiology; Middle Dalmatia

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