Genetic epidemiology of non-insulin-dependent diabetes mellitus in north India: preliminary analyses of some genetic markers in Punjabis.

Studies on monozygotic (MZ) twins and admixed populations show that the predisposition to non-insulin-dependent diabetes mellitus has a large genetic component. We have examined the distribution of some genetic polymorphisms (ABO, GLO, ESD, AK, ACPA, and GPI) in control and diabetic Punjabis from north India. The distribution of various genetic markers indicate that the differences between the control and diabetic samples are statistically not significant. Moreover, a contingency chi-square analysis over all loci suggests nonsignificant genetic differentiation (p = 0.50) between the Punjabi samples.