The Finnish disease heritage

Abstract

The Finnish disease heritage (FDH) is the concept for nearly forty rare hereditary diseases which are overrepresented in Finland compared to the size of the population. They are rare diseases in Finland as well, because their incidence varies from 1: 10,000 to 1: 100,000. Thus, in a population of about 5 million inhabitants and 60,000 newborns per year, the annual number of new patients in one disease is perhaps ten, perhaps not even one. Excluded from the FDH are rare hereditary diseases that are as frequent in Finland as elsewhere and those common diseases in which genes act as predisposing factors in addition to environmental factors. This article provides an overview of the FDH and examines the connections between hereditary diseases and population history as well as geographic circumstances in Finland.