Incidence patterns of immunogenetic diseases in the North American Indians.

Epidemiologic studies have defined a number of disease susceptibility patterns based on host-environment interaction. The antithetical approach of studying disease resistance patterns has been utilized less frequently. This preliminary data report describes the incidence of certain immunogenetic diseases in North American Indians for "internal comparison" of tribal population groups residing in disparate geographic areas and for "external comparison" with incidence patterns of Caucasian populations residing in the same geographic areas. The preliminary nature of the data precludes any conclusionary statements.