What to make of it? The (Re)emergence of a biological conceptualization of race in health disparities research

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Abstract

The debate over the role of race/ethnicity in determining disease susceptibility has re-emerged since it was declared that race was arbitrary biological fiction more than 50 years ago. Partly due to advancements in the Human Genome Project and related technologies, the idea that race/ethnicity does have a genetic basis is enjoying a resurgence. A rise in the use of race in genetic studies has left many researchers who are committed to a social conceptualization of race at a loss regarding how to evaluate these developments. The commentary attempts to correct the problem by providing a critical review of the state of research on race, genetics and health. This review aims to bring social health disparities researchers up-to-date on developments in the genetic literature and to facilitate a more critical engagement of research that purports to find a genetic basis to racial disparities in health.

Introduction

In the last 10 years, racial disparities in health have received an unprecedented amount of attention in both the popular and academic press. Along with this renewed interest in the causes and consequences of racial disparities, there has been a revival of the age-old disagreement over the domain in which the concept of race properly belongs. Over 50 years ago, the first of the UNESCO “Statements on Race” declared race to be without a biological basis, seemingly yielding the concept to the social sciences (UNESCO, 1950). In the present context, discoveries in genomic research, including the completion of a map of the human genome, have challenged this placement and resurrected the possibility that race may be a useful concept in genomic research (Olson, 2005).

These developments have left many researchers who study the social and environmental causes of racial disparities at a loss for how to reconcile genetic research that uses race as a valid unit of analysis with their own work. In particular, many researchers outside of the fields of biomedicine and genetics have struggled to understand the claims that some racial disparities in health may be genetic in origin. Part of the difficulty arises from the nature of the research, which requires a familiarity with genetic concepts that many population health researchers lack. As a result, the necessary dialogues that should accompany efforts to discern a genetic basis to racial health disparities are frequently absent.

The present discussion attempts to correct this problem by providing an accessible review of genetic research focused on racial differences in disease. It is hoped that a more informed understanding of the claims appearing in both the popular and academic press regarding the intersection of race, genetics and disease will enable population health researchers to become more critical consumers the work.

Section snippets

The developments

There are three main claims that have been put forth in the genetic and biomedical literature regarding the relationship between race, genetics, and health disparities. They rest on the premise that an understanding of population genetic structure can: (1) assist in inferring human evolutionary history, (2) help identify medically important genotypes that vary in frequency across populations, and (3) help elucidate the basis for racial disparities in health. Those who study racial/ethnic

Acknowledgment

The author would like to thank Stephanie Malia Fullerton for her helpful comments.

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