Health effects of human population isolation and admixture.
Year: 2006
Type: editorial
Abstract: There are occasions when, either by choice or by circumstances, human beings are driven to temporary or permanent isolation from other people. Some of the examples are working in a lighthouse, serving a prison sentence, or doing research in less populated areas. The same can happen to entire human populations, although this may seem quite improbable in an era which provides ever-increasing means of communication and transport. However, the gap between those who have access to these technological advancements and those who do not is increasingly widening. The number of people living in isolated communities, and whose isolation from other populations is constantly increasing, is largely underestimated.
Even in a highly economically developed part of the world, such as contemporary Europe, there are still many populations that live in the isolation from the others (Table 1). Within its research Framework Programme 6 (FP6), the European Commission (EC) recognized the large potential value of these populations as a model for studying the determinants of human health and disease, and also for preserving the genetic heritage of Europe. The Framework Programme has recently funded the proposal for the formation of the “European Special Population Research Network.” Croatia became a welcomed partner within this network, as its island populations represent one of the best-characterized isolate resources in Europe. The human population biology of the Croatian islands has been thoroughly studied for decades, mainly by the Institute for Anthropological Research in Zagreb, while the consequences of island populations’ isolation on health and disease have been studied more recently by several groups of researchers, mainly from the Rijeka and Split University Schools of Medicine and the Andrija Stampar School of Public Health in Zagreb.
Table 1
An overview of isolated populations in contemporary Europe*
This theme issue of the Croatian Medical Journal will systematically address the findings on health effects of population isolation and admixture on Croatian islands, resulting from the research undertaken within the past 4 years and funded by the Croatian Ministry of Science, Education, and Sports. This research was performed by a network of collaborating scientists from the Universities of Zagreb, Split, Osijek, and Rijeka, the Institute for Anthropological Research, and the Croatian Institute for Public Health.
Source: PubMed
Author: Igor Rudan
Language: English
Subfield: Genetics
Domain: Life Sciences
Open Access status: green
OpenAlex ID: W2127311716