Social selection and evolution of human diseases

✍ Scribed by Shozo Yokoyama

• Publisher: John Wiley and Sons
• Year: 1983
• Tongue: English
• Weight: 595 KB
• Volume: 62
• Category: Article
• ISSN: 0002-9483
• DOI: 10.1002/ajpa.1330620109

✦ Synopsis

Disease incidences in human populations depend on etiology of the disease, the fitness of individuals, and demographic changes of the population. The fitness of an individual is determined not only by the disease but also by other factors such as cultural and social reaction to the disorder and demographic changes of the population. Social selection studies the effect of the social behavior on the incidence of a trait. In studies of Huntington's disease, it has been shown that the fitness of the normal sibling of an affected individual is reduced as much as that of the affected individual himself or herself. A similar social effect has been observed for mental retardation. Thus, even if an individual has a normal genotype, mate finding and fertility may be changed considerably by the presence of affected family members. At the present time, the way in which genetic variabilities are maintained is poorly understood even for clearcut genetic diseases. Studies of social selection indicate that such information should be acquired by considering both the nature of the disease and its social effect.