[Medical genetic study of the population of Uzbekistan. V. The frequency of heterozygous beta-thalassemia in 4 kishlaks of Urgut District, Samarkand Province].

A subject of this investigation is the results of the subtotal examination of 4 villages for the detection of heterozygous beta-thalassemic carriers. 848 persons (55.5% of the registered population) have been examined. The mean frequency of the beta-Th gene was 0.0159, FST-Wahlund--0.00975. Statistically significant differences in the gene frequencies between villages have been revealed (p less than 0.01). The study of genetic distances (by Edwards) has revealed no intertribe differences in gene frequencies. The comparison of findings of the present study with other similar investigations enabled to account for the detected differences in the frequencies of beta-thalassemia as a result of the genetic drift. The importance of choosing populations for the study and methods for detection heterozygous beta-thalassemia are discussed.