Lack Of Diversity In Genetic Databases Hampers Research
Scientists around the world are working to correct a problem with genetic health information — too much of it is currently based on samples of Europeans.
When Lalita Manrai went to see her doctor for treatment of kidney disease, she noticed that some of the blood test results had different "normal" ranges for African Americans compared with everybody else.
When she asked her doctor which range applied to her — a woman born in India — he said the "everybody else" category was actually based on a study of Europeans, so neither category was right.
Instead, he said, he calculated "normal" for her by averaging the two values.
