title: Variation of hemoglobin levels in normal Italian populations from genetic isolates.
abstract: 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.
authors.affiliation: Università Vita-Salute San Raffaele, via Olgettina, 60, 20132 Milan, Italy.
authors.forename: Cinzia
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Sala
authors.forename: Marina
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Ciullo
authors.forename: Carmela
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Lanzara
authors.forename: Teresa
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Nutile
authors.forename: Silvia
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Bione
authors.forename: Roberto
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Massacane
authors.forename: Pio
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: d'Adamo
authors.forename: Paolo
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Gasparini
authors.forename: Daniela
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Toniolo
authors.forename: Clara
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Camaschella
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D005260:Female; D006454:Hemoglobins / Q000235:genetics* / Q000378:metabolism*; D006801:Humans; D007558:Italy; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D010802:Phylogeny
chemical_list: D006454:Hemoglobins