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Frequencies of complex diseases in hybrid populations
Author(s) -
Chakraborty Ranajit,
Weiss Kenneth M.
Publication year - 1986
Publication title -
american journal of physical anthropology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.146
H-Index - 119
eISSN - 1096-8644
pISSN - 0002-9483
DOI - 10.1002/ajpa.1330700408
Subject(s) - inheritance (genetic algorithm) , disease , etiology , population , rheumatoid arthritis , biology , demography , genetics , evolutionary biology , medicine , immunology , gene , sociology
Abstract Diseases of complex etiology demonstrate considerable variation in their frequencies in different ethnic populations. Noninsulin‐dependent diabetes mellitus (NIDDM), rheumatoid arthritis, and several cardiovascular diseases constitute examples of such disorders. In genetic studies involving hybrid populations of known ancestry, it is of interest to compare and correlate disease prevalence with the admixture proportion, the latter estimated from a number of polymorphic genetic markers. Theoretical formulations are provided relating disease prevalence in a hybrid population to the admixture proportion under different models of disease transmission. It is shown that the relationship between admixture proportion and disease frequency provides discriminatory power regarding the mode of inheritance. This method is illustrated with an example comparing the proportion of Amerindian ancestry in Mexican‐Americans and the prevalence of NIDDM. It is found that genetic factors are involved in susceptibility to NIDDM, but the mode of inheritance cannot be explained by any simple genetic model, and the role of sporadic events cannot be totally ruled out.