Are people from different ethnic backgrounds more susceptible to bipolar disorder?
The concept of medicine being guided by ethnic or racial differences has recently ignited controversy over the FDA’s approval of BiDil in the treatment of heart failure in blacks. The conept raises the specter of eugenics and the shortsighted notion that specific diseases exist in groups because of skin color or ethnic background. Clearly, genetic differences do exist based on so-called racial or ethnic backgrounds through the process known as assortative mating (like is attracted to and mates with like), thereby increasing the percentage of particular genes in a populations that may increase one’s chances for a specific disease. But this does not provide for the fact that genetic variation crosses boundaries. Just because one’s skin color is different from another’s does not necessarily mean he or she is susceptible to or immune from a specific disease. For example, although sickle cell anemia is usually associated with African Americans, whites can develop it as well. The color of on
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