Global migration and the changing distribution of sickle haemoglobin: a quantitative study of temporal trends between 1960 and 2000.

ABSTRACT:

Background

Changes in the geographical distribution of genetic disorders are often thought to happen slowly, especially when compared with infectious diseases. Whereas mutations, genetic drift, and natural selection take place over many generations, epidemics can spread through large populations within a few days or weeks. Nevertheless, population movements can interfere with these processes, and few studies have been done of their eff ect on genetic disorders. We aimed to investigate the eff ect of global migration on the distribution of the sickle-cell gene-the most common and clinically significant haemoglobin structural variant.

Methods

For each country, we extracted data from the World Bank’s Global Bilateral Migration Database about international human migrations betwe

SUBMITTER: Piel FB 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3986033 | biostudies-literature | 2014 Feb

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature