Understanding Racial and Ethnic Differences in Health in Late Life A Research Agenda (2004) / Chapter Skim
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3 Genetic Influences
3 Genetic Influences
Pages 46-53
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From page 46... ...
. At the same time, other researchers report that conventionally defined racial groups differ in genetic factors that affect risk for specific diseases or sensitivity to therapeutic drugs (e.g., Exner et al., 2001; Karter et al., 2002; Splawski et al., 2002; Taioli et al., 1995)
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From page 47... ...
Thus, it is worth asking whether there are identifiable gene differences among socially defined populations or racial groups. The answer to this question requires a distinction between the concepts of genetic loci and genetic alleles.
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From page 48... ...
Such complex causal networks are usually characterized by converging and diverging processes derived from multiple inputs from both genetic sources and environmental sources. Multiple redundant pathways with feedback loops may provide for compensatory mechanisms, in which one pathway adjusts for inadequacies in another pathway.
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From page 49... ...
Other disease states may not be categorically distinct from the normal range of variability of some anatomic structure or physiological process but may constitute extremes of such a dimension. The location of an individual in continuously distributed phenotypes is typically due to the action of many genetic loci, as well as many environmental variables.
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From page 50... ...
The two strains had been selectively bred for maze performance (Heron, 1935) ; the resulting "maze-bright" and "maze-dull" lines differed strikingly in the number of errors committed in learning the maze pattern, and, by strong inference, in terms of allelic configurations at an unknown number of polygenic loci pertinent to maze performance.
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From page 51... ...
All of the genetic variance was involved in genotype x sex interactions, genotype x environment interactions, or both. Within the general domain of coaction of genes and environmental factors, there are several lines of investigation that convincingly demonstrate that environments not only can interact in a statistical sense with genetic factors, but can also actually influence which genes are expressed.
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From page 52... ...
Briefly, black patients displayed no significant reduction of risk for hospitalization for heart failure within 36 months of therapy, while white patients experienced a 44 percent reduction in risk. Other such racial differences have been identified, such as greater resistance among black kidney and liver transplant patients to immunosuppression (Nagashima et al., 2001)
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From page 53... ...
Research Need 5: Assess genetic and environmental factors in racial and ethnic differences in health simultaneously, in designs that permit identification of both main effects and interactions. This research focus necessarily would emphasize the identification and assessment of environmental features, both physical and sociocultural, that are pertinent to ethnic differences in health outcomes.
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