Genetics and Health

Self-Reported Ethnicity Accurate in Most Populations

by Hsien Hsien Lei, PhD on November 16th, 2005

With the increasing amount of evidence that racial differences exist, i.e., drug response and gene expression, some of us (including me) still operate under the false impression that self-reports of ethnic origin are inaccurate. While I have a fairly homogeneous Chinese background, others whose ancestors include people of completely different geographic origins may not have such an easy time deciding what racial group they belong to.

One study in the American Journal of Human Genetics analyzed microsatellite marker data and found that self-identified race/ethnicity in the U.S. is actually fairly accurate. Less than 1% of over 3,500 study participants had a genetic profile that differed from their self-report.

…ancient geographic ancestry, which is highly correlated with self-identified race/ethnicity–as opposed to current residence–is the major determinant of genetic structure in the U.S. population.

On the other hand, certain populations, such as American Latinos, are admixed to the point where it’s difficult for individuals and genetic data to agree on a specific ethnicity or race. In these cases, attempting find associations between genes and disease could be affected by population substructure and recent admixure between ethnic/racial groups.

What does this mean?

1. Remember that genetic data are not always irrefutable.
2. Some people can and always have been able to trace their ancestry better than others.
3. Race-targeted medicine may not be as far off the mark as many think
4. Several factors should be considered when determining a person’s race.

In conclusion, gene-targeted personalized medicine will be more precise. But until we have easy access to more genomic information, race is going to be one of the determinants to providing appropriate medical care.

Pointer from Gene Expression.

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POSTED IN: General Genetics and Health