EVIDENCE FOR AUTOSOMAL-DOMINANT INHERITANCE AND RACE-SPECIFIC HETEROGENEITY IN EARLY-ONSET PERIODONTITIS

EARLY-ONSET PERIODONTITIS (EOP) refers to a group of severe periodonta l diseases with age of onset near puberty that are characterized by ra pid destruction of the tissues supporting the teeth in otherwise healt hy individuals. Mixed model segregation analyses of 100 families, asce rtained through 104 probands with EOP, were carried out to test major locus and multifactorial hypotheses for the etiology of EOP. Heterogen eity tests were used to compare the parameter estimates and conclusion s obtained in Black families from those from non-Black families. The d ata in these families confirmed that the often-reported female prepond erance of EOP appears to be an ascertainment bias. The segregation ana lysis results were consistent with an autosomal major locus being suff icient to explain the family patterns of EOP in the entire dataset, an d also in both the Black and non-Black subsets. A dominant mode of tra nsmission was most likely, with penetrance of about 70%. Although the etiologic conclusions were the same for Black and non-Black families, there was significant heterogeneity in parameter estimates. In particu lar the Black allele frequency was 0.016 versus the non-Black frequenc y of 0.001.