INTERETHNIC VARIABILITY IN BIRTH-WEIGHT AND GENETIC BACKGROUND - A STUDY OF PLACENTAL ALKALINE-PHOSPHATASE

The relationship between human placental alkaline phosphatase (FLAP) g enotype and birth weight is investigated in a sample of white, black a nd Puerto-Rican new-horn infants from New Haven, Connecticut (total 71 0 subjects). Black and Puerto-Rican infants show a higher incidence of growth retardation and a higher frequency of ALPp1/*1 genotype as co mpared to whites. The proportion of newborns with a low birth weight ( below the 10th percentile) is lower in infants with ALPp1/*1 genotype than in those with other FLAP genotypes, especially among non-whites. It is argued that the higher frequency of ALPp1 allele among non-whi tes might be, at least in part, a consequence of their adaptation in t he past to environmental conditions adverse to optimal intrauterine de velopment. (C) 1996 Wiley-Liss, Inc.