Health and Ethnicity

by Macbeth; Helen

• ISBN13: 9780415241670
• ISBN10: 0415241677
• Format: Nonspecific Binding
• Copyright: 2000-11-23
• Publisher: CRC Press

Summary

It is becoming increasingly apparent that certain diseases occur at higher frequencies in different ethnic groups (e.g. Afro-Carribeans and sickle-cell anaemia). The causes for such differences are only just being investigated and the factors involved are clearly both genetic and non-genetic. The biological complexity lies in the interaction of genetic variation and lifestyle differences. Cultural differences range from diet to traditional remedies, from religious beliefs to marriage patterns and much more.This multidisciplinary volume discusses these factors, with contributions from geneticists, medics, anthropologists, epidemiologists and social scientists. Anyone considering variation in health experience due to ethnic factors would be enriched by reading the different perspectives presented in this volume.

Table of Contents

List of figures	xii
List of tables	xiv
List of contributors	xv
Preface	xix
Introduction	1	(9)
Helen Macbeth
Prakash Shetty
Defining the ethnic group: important and impossible	10	(11)
Helen Macbeth
Ethnicity and race as epidemiological variables: centrality of purpose and context	21	(20)
Raj Bhopal
Introduction	21	(5)
Purposes and contexts	26	(9)
Conclusion	35	(6)
The contribution of socio-economic position to health differentials between ethnic groups: evidence from the United States and Britain	41	(18)
James Y. Nazroo
George Davey Smith
Introduction	41	(2)
Methods	43	(1)
Results	44	(7)
Discussion	51	(8)
Health: an elusive concept	59	(9)
Gilbert Lewis
Health as an ideal	59	(1)
Criteria for distinguishing health: fact, variation or bias	60	(2)
Commitments to cultural ideas about health	62	(1)
Health from inside: illness without	63	(1)
Holism and health	64	(2)
The social or cultural component in health	66	(2)
Human inbreeding: a familiar story full of surprises	68	(11)
Alan H. Bittles
H. S. Savithri
H. S. Venkatesha Murthy
G. Baskaran
Wel Wang
Janet Cahill
N. Appaji Rao
Introduction	68	(2)
The prevalence of consanguineous unions	70	(1)
Assessing the outcomes of consanguineous marriages	71	(2)
The effects of consanguinity at the genome level	73	(2)
Discussion	75	(4)
The inherited disorders of haemoglobin	79	(9)
David J. Weatherall
Introduction	79	(1)
Normal human haemoglobin synthesis	80	(1)
The haemoglobinopathies	80	(3)
World distribution and population genetics	83	(1)
Haemoglobinopathies in migrant populations	84	(1)
Future problems for the control and management of the haemoglobin disorders	85	(3)
Genetic variation and ethnic variability in disease risk	88	(25)
Ryk Ward
Spatial and temporal variation in disease risk: the role of ethnicity	88	(2)
Ethnic variability in disease risk: risk differentials in ecology and genetic heritage	90	(2)
Distribution of genetic variation in human populations: some consequences	92	(2)
Ethnic variation in disease risk: monogenic disease	94	(2)
Molecular dissection of Mendelian disease: one disease, many lesions	96	(2)
Single genes and more complex ethnic diseases: infectious disease	98	(1)
Multifactorial disease: more complex aetiologies	99	(7)
Influence of genetic differntiation on genetic architecture of disease	106	(3)
Conclusion	109	(4)
Approaches to investigating the genetic basis of ethnic differences in disease risk	113	(20)
Paul McKeigue
Introduction	113	(1)
Ethnic differenes in disease risk that are likely to have a genetic basis	114	(4)
Exploiting admixture to map genes that underlie ethnic difference in disease risk	118	(5)
Statistical power and required sample size for admixture mapping studies	123	(1)
Information about ancestry conveyed by a marker polymorphism	124	(2)
Number of markers required for a genome search	126	(1)
Strategies for assembling marker sets	126	(1)
Conclusion	127	(6)
Diabetes, ancestral diets and dairy foods: an evolutionary perspective on population differences in susceptibility to diabetes	133	(14)
Anthony J. McMichael
Epidemiological profile of non-insulin-dependent diabetes mellitus	133	(1)
The role of insulin in diabetes	134	(1)
Possible evolutionary sources of differences in insulin sensitivity genotype between populations	135	(3)
Early human evolution	138	(2)
Agriculture as determinant of population metabolic genotype?	140	(1)
NIDDM rates in today's populations	141	(1)
Spread of farming in Europe	141	(1)
The lactose tolerance connection	142	(2)
Conclusion	144	(3)
Variations in health and disease: race, ethnicity or `nutrition transition'	147	(17)
Prakash Shetty
Introduction	147	(1)
No genetic variation: no effect of nutrition	148	(2)
Genetic variation present: no effect of `nutrition transition'	150	(2)
Genetic variations superimposed by `nutrition transition'	152	(8)
Conclusion	160	(4)
Ethnic variations and cardiovascular disease	164	(23)
Sonia Anand
Salim Yusuf
Introduction	164	(1)
Worldwide patterns of disease and regional differences	164	(2)
Ethnic variations in cardiovascular disease	166	(15)
Importance of studies among migrant ethnic groups	181	(1)
Conclusion	182	(5)
Ethnicity and the risk of cancer	187	(22)
D. Max Parkin
Introduction	187	(1)
What accounts for ethnic variation in risk?	187	(3)
Descriptive studies of ethnicity and cancer	190	(2)
Analytic studies of ethnicity and cancer	192	(1)
Genetic basis of cancer susceptibility	192	(1)
Examples of ethnic differences in cancer risk	193	(10)
Conclusion	203	(6)
`Culture' in the field of race and mental health	209	(14)
Roland Littlewood
Sexual health and ethnicity	223	(10)
K. A. Fenton
Kaye Wellings
Case study: cross-cultural variations in learning about sex	229	(1)
Conclusion	230	(3)
Challenges and policy implications of ethnic diversity and health	233	(10)
R. Balarajan
Background	233	(1)
Knowing the people	233	(1)
Social and economic circumstances	233	(1)
Cultural context	234	(2)
Strategy for ethnicity and health	236	(1)
Equitable allocation of resources	237	(1)
Public health strategy	238	(1)
Health service strategy	238	(1)
Intelligence	239	(1)
Research strategy	239	(1)
Training and education	240	(1)
Eliminating discriminatory practices	240	(1)
Need for organisational change	240	(2)
Conclusion	242	(1)
Index	243