Khachadurian (1962) described three Lebanese inbred families affected with pentosuria. There were 12 cases in these three families, and the pedigrees pointed towards an autosomal recesisve mode of transmission. 

Politzer and Fleischmann (1962) also studied a large consanguineous Lebanese kindred living in South Africa. A total of 127 members of this family were studied. Ten members across three generations were found to be affected by pentosuria in this family.  Although the authors considered an autosomal dominant mode of inheritance, a re-investigation of this family by Lane and Jenkins in 1985 concluded that the inheritance was recesisve.