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Genetic Association Studies in the Solomon Islanders

The goal of this study was to determine the genetics underlying blond hair in the Solomon Islands, which has the highest prevalence of blondism outside of Europe. Participants in the study were of self-reported Solomon Islands ancestry and were 6-36 years of age at enrollment. Individuals with blond (N = 43) and dark hair (N = 42) were selected, approximately matched for age, sex and local geography, and spectrophometric measurements of hair pigmentation were made as a single measurement taken from hair at the crown. Individuals with gray, white, thin, bleached or artificially colored hair were excluded from analysis. All 85 participants were evaluated in a genome-wide scan to detected association to hair pigmentation in the Solomon Islands.