GENETIC AND OTHER HEALTH PROBLEMS ASCERTAINED IN FAMILIES OF THE DAUGHTERS OF THE AMERICAN REVOLUTION

We conducted a relatively large survey of Daughters of the American Revolution members and their relatives, currently living or dead, to estimate the frequency and type of genetic diseases and other health problems found in the general population in the United States. Sufficient information was available for data analysis on 46,664 living or dead individuals, of whom 27,509 (59%) had some type of health problem. The conditions were categorized according to established guidelines as single-gene (4.02% of all health problems: autosomal dominant 2.83%, autosomal recessive 1.06%, X-linked 0.13%), chromosomal (0.12%), sporadic (5.35%), developmental (2.47%), environmental (0.02%), multifactorial (57.44%), or unknown (30.59%). Thus, 61.5% of all health problems were due in some degree to genetic factors. The associations of specific disorders were also investigated, and several significant (chi-square test; p < 0.001) ones were identified. Some of them were not surprising (e.g., diabetes mellitus and obesity), whereas others (e.g., allergies/hayfever and alcoholism) were not expected or easily explained. Studies of such associations may open a new area of investigation on the etiology of specific diseases. Our study confirms that genetic factors play a major role in health problems in the general population.