A reconsideration of the role of self-identified races in epidemiology and biomedical research

Studies in History and Philosophy of Biological and Biomedical Sciences
Ludovica Lorusso, Fabio Bacchini

Abstract

A considerable number of studies in epidemiology and biomedicine investigate the etiology of complex diseases by considering (self-identified) race as a relevant variable and focusing on the differences in risk among racial groups in the United States; they extensively draw on a genetic hypothesis--viz. the hypothesis that differences in the risk of complex diseases among racial groups are largely due to genetic differences covarying with genetic ancestry--that appears highly problematic in the light of both current biological evidence and the theory of human genome evolution. Is this reason for dismissing self-identified races? No. An alternative promising use of self-identified races exists, and ironically is suggested by those studies that investigate the etiology of complex diseases without focusing on racial differences. These studies provide a large amount of empirical evidence supporting the primacy of the contribution of non-genetic as opposed to genetic factors to the risk of complex diseases. We show that differences in race--or, better, in racial self-identification--may be critically used as proxies for differences in risk-related exposomes and epigenomes in the context of the United States. Self-identified race is ...Continue Reading

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Citations

Mar 15, 2015·Studies in History and Philosophy of Biological and Biomedical Sciences·Roberta L Millstein
Feb 24, 2015·Studies in History and Philosophy of Biological and Biomedical Sciences·Brian M Donovan
Sep 4, 2017·Environmental Health : a Global Access Science Source·Janet M GrayJeanne Rizzo
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Jun 1, 2018·Race and Social Problems·Simon OutramCharmaine Dm Royal

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