Latino populations: a unique opportunity for the study of race, genetics, and social environment in epidemiological research.
Latinos are the largest minority population in the United States. Although usually classified as a single ethnic group by researchers, Latinos are heterogeneous from cultural, socioeconomic, and genetic perspectives. From a cultural and social perspective, Latinos represent a wide variety of national origins and ethnic and cultural groups, with a full spectrum of social class. From a genetic perspective, Latinos are descended from indigenous American, European, and African populations. We review the historical events that led to the formation of contemporary Latino populations and use results from recent genetic and clinical studies to illustrate the unique opportunity Latino groups offer for studying the interaction between racial, genetic, and environmental contributions to disease occurrence and drug response.
González Burchard
Esteban
E
Department of Medicine, University of California, San Francisco, CA 94143-0833, USA. esteban@sfgh.ucsf.edu
Borrell
Luisa N
LN
Choudhry
Shweta
S
Naqvi
Mariam
M
Tsai
Hui-Ju
HJ
Rodriguez-Santana
Jose R
JR
Chapela
Rocio
R
Rogers
Scott D
SD
Mei
Rui
R
Rodriguez-Cintron
William
W
Arena
Jose F
JF
Kittles
Rick
R
Perez-Stable
Eliseo J
EJ
Ziv
Elad
E
Risch
Neil
N
D001249:Asthma / Q000453:epidemiology; D004641:Emigration and Immigration; D016021:Epidemiologic Studies; D006630:Hispanic or Latino / Q000235:genetics* / Q000266:history; D049669:History, 16th Century; D049670:History, 17th Century; D006801:Humans; D007843:Latin America / Q000453:epidemiology; D008297:Male; D009369:Neoplasms / Q000401:mortality; D010375:Pedigree; D012044:Regression Analysis; D012931:Social Environment; D014481:United States / Q000453:epidemiology