a1 Department of Genetics, Dr ALM PGIBMS, Taramani, Madras.
a2 K. K. R. ENT Hospital and Research Institute, 827, Poonamallee High Road, Kilpauk, Madras 600 010, India.
Otosclerosis is an early-middle adult life genetic disease affecting bone remodelling in the ear. Current knowledge of otosclerosis as an inherited disease dates to the mid-19th century, and we report here an attempt to understand the genetics of otosclerosis and detect its heterogeneity. The analysis was conducted on 151 otosclerotic families. The results of our study indicate that while heredity plays an important role in the manifestation of the disease a substantial portion of otosclerotic cases could arise due to non-genetic causes.
(Accepted December 14 1996)
c1 Address for correspondence: Dr A. Ramesh, Department of Genetics Dr ALMPGIBMS, Taramani, Madras 600 113, India. Fax: 91-044-4926709
This work was presented at the Seminar on Genetic Epidemiology and XX Annual Conference of Indian Society of Human Genetics held December 11–13, 1994, at the Department of Genetics, Osmania University, Hyderabad – 7.