The Significance of Monoclonal Gammopathy in a Normal Population*

Summary: Electrophoretic examination of the serum of a population of 2,192 adults in a New Zealand town showed that eleven of them had a monoclonal gammopathy, an overall incidence of 0.5%. During a three‐year follow up period two died of unrelated disease and four have been demonstrated to have associated overt clinical disease. A further two have blood changes suspicious of an early reticulosis. In two cases no disease state is evident on follow up and in one case the monoclonal peak has regressed but there is suspected immunoparesis.