Search


	Podcast:		UC Science Today
	Episode:		New insight into how race and ethnicity affect health
	Category:		Science & Medicine
	Duration:		00:01:04
	Publish Date:		2017-02-19 18:00:00
	Description:		There’s new insight into how race and ethnicity affect health, thanks to new research at the University of California, San Francisco. Study leader Noah Zaitlen explains the connection. "People from different countries, from different communities get sick from different diseases, they respond differently to different medications. We know that some of that is because of differences in their genetics and some of that is because of differences in their environment." This includes exposure to pollution, differences in diet or stress levels, all of which scientists and doctors overlooked in the past in favor of genetics and ancestry. And this approach, Zaitlen says, has shaped the way patients get screened. "When you walk into a hospital right now, you fill out this form, you see two choices for ethnicity – it can be Hispanic or non-Hispanic and then you have these racial categories and the selection can impact how you are treated. Diagnostic tests will get reported differently depending on which category you check." To better assess patients’ health, Zaitlen suggests that doctors include social and environmental factors, too.
	Total Play:		0