Another look at the Hutterites and natural fertility.
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Despite reports of lower fracture risk among rural versus urban populations, few studies have investigated rural versus urban differences in bone mineral content (BMC) and bone mineral density (BMD). Population differences in cross-sectional bone geometry and understanding lifestyle factors responsible for these differences may reveal insights into the reason for differences in fracture risk. We hypothesized that if lifestyle differences in bone mass, size, and geometry are a result of muscle strength, activity, or dietary differences, Hutterite and rural populations should have greater bone mass compared to nonrural populations. The study population consisted of 1189 individuals: 504 rural Hutterites (188 men), 349 rural individuals (>75% life farming, 184 men), and 336 nonrural individuals (never lived on farm, 134 men) aged 20 to 66 years. BMC, bone area, and areal BMD (aBMD) of the total body (TB), hip, femoral neck (FN), and spine by DXA; volumetric BMD (vBMD) and bone geometry at the 4% and 20% radius; polar stress strain index (pSSI), a measure of bone strength, at the 20% pQCT site; and strength, 7-day activity recall, and 24-h diet recall were collected and compared among groups. Hutterite women and men had greater grip strength compared to rural and nonrural populations (both, P <0.001). Rural women had greater activity versus Hutterite and nonrural (P <0.001), while both Hutterite and rural men had greater activity than nonrural (P <0.001). Hutterite and rural populations tended to have greater BMC and areal size than the nonrural population, while Hutterites had greater BMC and areal size than rural population at some (TB, FN for females only), but not all (proximal hip), sites. Cortical vBMD was inversely associated with periosteal circumference at the 20% radius in women (r=-0.25, P <0.001) and men (r=-0.28, P <0.001) and was higher in nonrural versus Hutterite and rural men. Hutterite and rural women and men had greater pSSI at the 20% radius compared to nonrural; inclusion of strength measurements explained population differences among women, but not men. Lifestyle differences did not explain population differences in BMC, aBMD, vBMD, or bone size.
A previous study revealed the rarity of varicella zoster virus (VZV) diseases among 5601 Hutterite Brethren living in a high-risk area for these diseases. The current study was established to determine the frequency of other common infectious diseases. The information was gathered from a population-based study of a unique group of Manitoba citizens and compared with an equal number of their age and sex-matched neighbors. The data were contained in the records of the Manitoba Health Services Commission (MHSC). The MHSC, the sole paying agency for medical diseases in Manitoba, contained 94,383,972 records for all of Manitoba for the years 1985 to 1991 inclusive. From these, the records of a cohort of 5601 Hutterites and an equal number of non-Hutterite age- and sex-matched controls were examined for the frequency of 14 diseases of interest. To be eligible a Hutterite subject must have one of the 22 unique family names and live on a Colony with the precise address. A control must be age (within 10 years) and sex-matched, live in the same or a contiguous postal code, and use the same medical practitioners. There were no interventions or identification of any member of the study. Mumps, acute coryza, and rubella are of the same frequency among the two groups. Only herpes simplex and cellulitis are more common among the Hutterites. All of the other nine common infectious diseases are significantly more common among the controls. The VZV diseases are not exclusively less common among the Hutterite Brethren. Nine other common infectious diseases are also less common but the degree of significant difference does not reach the level of the VZV diseases. The reduction in numbers of these diseases among the Hutterites is not related to the vaccination habits of the group and is not due to physical isolation. The Hutterites appear to have a more effective immune system relative to their neighbors.
BACKGROUND: We previously showed that Manitoba Hutterites seek physician care for varicella zoster virus infection significantly less than non-Hutterites. The current study was undertaken to measure varicella zoster virus seroprevalence for Hutterite and non-Hutterite controls. METHODS: Blood was obtained from 315 Hutterites and 259 similar age and sex controls at the time of blood donations to The Canadian Red Cross Society. The controls were from the same or a contiguous postal code area and were collected at the same time as the Hutterite samples. The immune status of the specimens was determined by the ELISA method (enzyme linked immunosorbent assay). RESULTS: Twenty-eight per cent of 315 Hutterites had no immunity and an additional 25% had only marginal immunity. Among the 259 controls, 10% had no immunity and an additional 10% had only marginal immunity (p < .0001). CONCLUSIONS: Manitoba Hutterites have significantly decreased seroprevalence to varicella zoster virus infection. This study of serum varicella zoster virus antibodies verifies a previous population based study that demonstrated the relative rarity of varicella and herpes zoster among a particular population group.
BACKGROUND: Sensitization to cockroach allergens is an important epidemiologic risk factor for asthma, particularly among African Americans living in urban environments. A recent genome screen in the Hutterites, a white founder population, identified a linkage between an HLA-linked marker and sensitization to cockroach allergens. OBJECTIVE: Our purpose was to determine whether alleles at one or more HLA loci are associated with sensitization to cockroach allergens in ethnically diverse populations. METHODS: Alleles at 14 HLA region loci were studied in the Hutterites. On the basis of these results, selected loci were examined in 54 African Americans with cockroach sensitization (cases) and 65 African Americans without cockroach sensitization (controls). Sensitivity to cockroach allergens was assessed in both samples by skin prick test to purified cockroach allergens (Periplaneta americana and Blatella germanica). RESULTS: Significant associations between cockroach allergies and DRB1*0101 (P(corrected) =.0066), DQA1*0101 (P(corrected) =.0012), and DQB1*0501 (P(corrected) =.00096) were detected in the Hutterites. In the African American sample, the most significant association was with the DRB1*0102 allele (P(corrected) =.0088, odds ratio 16.4, 95% confidence interval 2.0, 131). The DRB1*0101 allele was infrequent in the African American sample (frequency 0.06) and the DRB1*0102 allele was absent in the Hutterites. DRB1*0101 and DRB1*0102 are closely related alleles that differ from nearly all other DRB1 alleles at 3 amino acids in the 1 peptide binding domain of the HLA-DR molecule. CONCLUSIONS: The DRB1*0101 allele in the Hutterites and the DRB1*0102 allele in African Americans confer risk for cockroach sensitization. Elucidating this interaction at the molecular level may allow for more targeted treatment and prevention of atopic asthma in inner-city populations.
We present a Monte Carlo method for determining the distribution of founders' genetic contributions to descendant cohorts. The simulation of genes through known pedigrees generates the probability distributions of contributed genes in recent cohorts of descendants, their means, and their variances. Genealogical data from three populations are analyzed: the Hutterite population of North America, the island population of Sottunga from the Aland archipelago, and the large Utah Mormon population. Two applications of the Monte Carlo method are presented. First we investigate the relative opportunity for founder effect in the three populations, which have dissimilar pedigree structures and dissimilar disease gene frequencies. Second, we measure the reproductive success of population founders in terms of the number of genes they contribute to a cohort some number of generations descendant and compare the effects of polygyny versus monogamy on reproductive success. The distribution of Hutterite founder contributions describes the context for a classic founder effect. Hutterite founders have a higher probability of leaving no genes in the population (72%) than Sottunga (48%) and Mormon (48%) founders. However, founder genes that survive among Hutterite descendants do so in larger numbers on average than founder genes in the other two populations. Greater variation among monogamous Hutterite founders compared with Mormon polygynous founders demonstrates that polygyny alone does not maximize the variance in reproductive success; other population characteristics are at least as important for determining variability among individuals in their genetic contributions to a gene pool. Our findings make it difficult to appreciate the reproductive advantage of polygyny in the Mormon population. Although the expected gene contributions and their variances were larger for polygynous founders compared with other Mormons, the main effect of polygyny was to increase the probability that any polygynist left a few genes among descendants. Furthermore, only 12% of the variation in the genetic contributions of Mormon founders is explained by their number of offspring. We conclude that shallow genealogical data (from one or a few generations) provide a poor measure of long-term reproductive success.