Endogamous marriage and the prevalence of hemoglobin E in ethnic groups of northern Thailand

Objective: To investigate the impact of the endogamous marriage culture on the prevalence of the hemoglobin E (HbE) recessive variant.

Methods: The prevalence of the hemoglobin E (HbE) recessive variant was determined by dot-blot hybridization in 4 endogamous villages (1 Mlabri and 3 Htin ethnic groups) in comparison with 9 other nearby non-endogamous populations.

Results: Although the overall HbE prevalence in the population studied (8.44%, 33/391) was not significantly different from that of the general southeast Asian population, a high prevalence and individuals with homozygous HbE were observed in two villages, the Mlabri from Wiang Sa district and the Htin from Thung Chang district of Nan province (26.3% and 26.9%, respectively). The low HbE allelic frequency noticed in some endogamous populations suggests that not only endogamy but also other evolutionary forces, such as founder effect and HbE/β-thalassemia negative selection may have an effect on the distribution of the HbE trait.

Conclusion: Our study strongly documents that cultural impact has to be considered in the extensive prevalence studies for genetic disorders in the ethnic groups of northern Thailand.