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1/11 Why is it important to account for race and ethnicity when working with a genetic disorder, infectious disease, pharmaceuticals, or therapeutics? B/c genetics determine our biochemical response. Here is why this is important.
#COVID19 #JAMA #Medicalscience #clinicaltrials
#COVID19 #JAMA #Medicalscience #clinicaltrials
2/11 People are losing their minds on this #JAMA article calling it racist & not scientific because it uses a "social construct term"-race in place of ethnicity. An overwhelming number of comments are supposed medical pros who forgot how to be objective... https://twitter.com/JAMA_current/status/1304102350857154567?s=20
3/11 Sickle Cell inheritance is carried by ~44 million people, and expressed in ~5 million around the globe. It's autosomal recessive, a non sex chromosome, w/ both parents carrying/expressing the disorder genotypically & passing it on. It affects only those of African descent.
4/11 Sickle Cell Disease does confer protections against Malaria in folks w/ the SC trait & outright genetic expression. This doesn't affect white, Asian, or Latino people unless both parents are of African descent & hetero-recessive. A recent review: https://www.pnas.org/content/115/28/7350
5/11 We see diseases & disorders like this that pop up in various populations based on region, skin color (see my tweet on VitD & #COVID19 /immunity in the black community), ethnicity, & even among genders. The latter, actual biological gender, being crucial in research.
6/11 Until 1994 the FDA didn't allow women of childbearing potential to participate in medical research (or many women for that matter), & racial minorities were few as well. What changed? We recognized that molecules react differently based on gender: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4800017/
7/11 This change allowed us to finely tune applications of treatments with a molecule/drug in men & women, observing how it reacts differently based on the race, ethnicity, or geographic origin of the participant. In a way translational research began it's branch...
8/11 One of the most basic things you'll see when you look at #NHANES deidentified datasets & that we see when we do our data cleaning of blinded patients is age, gender, geo origin, & participant ID that will link to deidentified data w/in data collection systems.
9/11 Linking of a subject ID with the de-IDed info & study biomarkers, samples, & data while on a trial allows us researchers to analyze the data & determine if there is a difference in molecule efficacy in treatment, while evaluating outcomes post treatment.
10/11 Accounting for biological differences in gender (there are only 2 with the occasional genetic syndrome) & race/ethnicity allows us to better understand disease disparities across populations, resulting in more effective treatments tailored to those individuals.
11/11 These responses are pure insanity, & the radical SJW ideologies that have infiltrated medicine are why I decided no to continue pursuing med school & went into research. These regressives are a disservice to their patients in the name of being virtuous and an ally...
