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The age pyramid of Roma populations tips strongly towards the younger age groups and is characterized by a low number of elderly individuals. There is a vast range of environmental factors that influence the age structure of Roma populations. To explore whether a genetic risk for premature mortality also exists in this ethnic minority, 33 single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) in 23 putative longevity genes were investigated in 308 adult Roma living in Croatia, and in Croatian population sample, composed of 314 "Old" (85-101 yrs.) and 97 "Young" (20-35 yrs.) subjects. The cumulative effect of the investigated SNPs, which have previously been related to human longevity, was summarized within Genetic Longevity Score (GLS). After Bonferroni correction the "Old" and "Young" Croatian age groups differ only in the allele frequency in MRE11A locus (rs533984), while the Roma had significantly different allele frequencies from the surrounding majority population in most of the investigated longevity genes loci (in 16 out of the 33 SNPs). However, the Roma's GLS is equal to those in the "Young" and "Old" Croatian cohorts implying identical chances of surviving to the age of 85 among Roma as in the majority Croatian population, when only genetics is taken into account. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Leptin, a possible mediator between energy homeostasis, inflammation and cardiovascular disease (CVD), acts via leptin receptors. We investigated association of single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) and haplotypes of the leptin receptor gene (LEPR) with several CVD risk factors: body mass index, waist circumference (WC), serum lipids, fibrinogen and C-reactive protein levels. Thirty-one SNPs in and near LEPR gene were analyzed in 986 inhabitants of the island of Vis, Croatia and 29 SNPs in the inland sample (N=499). We assessed linkage disequilibrium (LD), SNP and haplotype associations with the selected phenotypes. rs4291477 significantly associated with fibrinogen (P=0.003) and rs7539471 marginally significantly with high-density lipoprotein (P=0.004), but only in the Vis sample, while rs10493384 marginally significantly associated with triglyceride levels (P=0.006) in the inland sample. SNPs were grouped into eight LD blocks in Vis and in seven blocks in the inland population. Haplotype A-C-A-A-G-A in block 5 in Vis (rs1782754, rs1171269, rs1022981, rs6673324, rs3790426, rs10493380) and haplotype A-A-A-A in block 4 in the inland data (rs1782754, rs1022981, rs6673324, rs1137100) were nominally associated with WC, P=7.085 × 10−22 (adjusted P=0.0979) and P=5.496 × 10−144 (adjusted P=0.1062), respectively. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]