Reduced association between the Ii blood group and congenital cataracts in white patients

The authors have identified a white patient with the red blood cell phenotype i, who also has congenital cataracts. However, in comparison with the strong association in Japanese patients between congenital cataracts and the i phenotype, the overall incidence of cataracts in white people with the i phenotype (three of ten people have congenital cataracts) is much lower. In addition, the authors studied the blood of 31 white patients with congenital cataracts and found no patients with the i phenotype. Thus, a close link between genes for these traits does not appear in most white patients with i red blood cell phenotypes.