Open AccessVariation of hemoglobin levels in normal Italian populations from genetic isolates
Author(s) -
Cinzia Sala,
Marina Ciullo,
Carmela Lanzara,
Teresa Nutile,
Silvia Bione,
Roberto Massacane,
Pio D’Adamo,
Paolo Gasparini,
Daniela Toniolo,
Clara Camaschella
Publication year - 2008
Publication title -
haematologica
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 2.782
H-Index - 142
eISSN - 1592-8721
pISSN - 0390-6078
DOI - 10.3324/haematol.12915
Subject(s) - hemoglobin , heritability , hemoglobin variants , biology , anemia , hemoglobin a , physiology , genetics , medicine , biochemistry
Normal hemoglobin levels vary greatly according to genetic and acquired factors. As a consequence there is no general agreement on the definition of anemia in terms of hemoglobin levels. Here we compare the hemoglobin levels of subjects recruited from normal genetically isolated Italian populations whose medical history, life style habits and results of laboratory tests are available. After the exclusion of pathological samples we analyzed the hemoglobin levels of 3,849 subjects (1,661 males and 2,188 females) and evaluated the hemoglobin heritability. Normal subjects of different age groups from a northern Italian isolate have significantly higher hemoglobin levels when compared to matched subjects of southern Italian isolates. The estimated heritability of hemoglobin levels ranges from 0.34 to 0.42 in the different isolates. Our study provides a dataset of hemoglobin levels for normal subjects of different geographical origin and indicate that hemoglobin levels are substantially influenced by heritable components.