These findings strongly support a dependency of the Chuvash phenotype on HIF-2alpha and suggest potential treatments for Chuvash patients.

RHOA in Chuvash sample may be traumatic in nature, caused by heavy and prolonged manual work related to their private farming.

In addition to polycythemia, Chuvash patients have pulmonary hypertension and increased respiratory rates, although the pathophysiological basis of these symptoms is unclear.

They also actively solicit the votes of the nationalist and elitist Muslims of the industrialized Volga - mainly the Tatars, Bashkirs and Chuvash.