Table 1 Characteristics of multifactorial disorders
Characteristics | Description |
|---|---|
Multifactorial influence | Contribution of genetic as well as environmental factors to disease development |
Phenotypic heterogeneity | Large variety in clinical phenotypes within a syndrome |
Polygenicity | The effect of many genes that contribute to a disease |
Genetic heterogeneity | Different genes, or even different alleles of the same gene, may contribute to development of the same phenotype |
Variable disease onset | The onset of the disease may vary between individuals, onset often late in life |