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A whole community study of polycythemia vera in Israel revealed a mean annual incidence of 6.7 per million. Ratio of age adjusted rates between European and non-European-born foreign residents was 2.2 among males and 3.1 among females. A comparison with the only other community study of polycythemia shows higher incidence in Israel as compared with the city of Baltimore, but similar rates among European-born Jews in Israel and Jewish residents in Baltimore. The data indicate that the risk of developing polycythemia vera is higher among Jews of European extraction, independent of residence.

Familial Mediterranean fever (FMF) is a genetic disease characterized by recurrent short episodes of fever, accompanied by peritonitis, pleuritis, or arthritis. The disease is almost completely ethnically restricted to patients of Mediterranean descent--Sephardic Jews, Armenians, Anatolian Turks, and Arabs. Although many family studies have been performed, no twin study has been reported as yet. We studied 21 di- and monozygotic twin sets, identified among the 1,943 FMF patients in our registry. Full concordance was observed in all the 10 monozygotic twin sets. In the 11 dizygotic twins, concordance for FMF disease was found in only 3 pairs. Variability in the clinical manifestations and degree of severity have been noted within twins. These findings provide definitive evidence for the genetic cause of FMF. They also support the single gene autosomal recessive model, and provide support for the contention that the lower observed than expected incidence found in FMF is due to genetically affected but clinically undiagnosed patients.

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