Race Alone Cannot Be Used To Predict Health
on July 8th, 2010 at 7:41 am
Well, at least according to this story.
WEDNESDAY, July 7 (HealthDay News) — The use of predictive equations that depend on self-identified race alone may not correctly assess lung function in individuals who identify themselves as African-American, and including ancestry may improve lung-function estimates, according to research published online July 7 in the New England Journal of Medicine.
Rajesh Kumar, M.D., of the Children’s Memorial Hospital in Chicago, and colleagues analyzed data from three cohorts of individuals who identified themselves as African-American, as well as data from two asthma-study populations
The researchers found that in one cohort with 777 participants whose ancestral admixture was estimated with genome-wide genotyping data, African ancestry was inversely associated with forced expiratory volume in one second (FEV1) and forced vital capacity. These associations were also noted in two other cohorts. An ancestry-based model fit the data for predicting lung function better than standard models. Ancestry-based models also led to the reclassification of asthma severity — based on percentage of predicted FEV1 — in 4 to 5 percent of subjects.
“Current predictive equations, which rely on self-identified race alone, may misestimate lung function among subjects who identify themselves as African-American,” the authors conclude. “Incorporating ancestry into normative equations may improve lung-function estimates and more accurately categorize disease severity.”
At least we have one medical study showing that Black folks have a death sentence because of our race. How many other studies out there need to be corrected?
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