'Clinical genetics' gain notice
Inheritable disorders are assuming a larger place in many practices today. This increase in the relative importance of genetically-related diseases can be attributed in part to a gradual decline in childhood morbidity and mortality due to malnutrition and infection.
"In 1910, for example, there were six deaths from diarrheal diseases in infancy for every one owing to congenital malformations," according to Hymie Gordon, MD, consulting physician to the Mayo Clinic's Section of Medical Genetics.
Speaking at the AMA's Annual Convention in Chicago, Dr. Gordon said, however, that a complete statistical turnabout occurred in little more than 50 years. "In 1965, there was one diarrheal death for every six from congenital malformations," he said.
Biomedical research has further increased the field by identifying a genetic basis in a growing number of diseases. In recent Congressional testimony, Nobel laureate Joshua Lederberg, PhD, estimated that 25% of the
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