Ignoring the scope of human diversity...

Race in America persists as a justification for social and political inequality. As a healthcare data scientist examining the granular details embedded in large datasets I recently joined discussions regarding the myth of biology and race. Are we ambivalent to this omission or uninformed? Examining pre-clinical data for Phase II products in pharmaceutical pipelines I remain gobsmacked at the absence of meaningful measures of biochemistry and metabolism in favor of checklists for race or ethnicity.

American sociologist W.E.B. Du Bois cautioned that race was a poor biologic proxy “for social and cultural differences between populations of people” stating that an idea of discrete racial groups ignores the “scope of human diversity”.

Scientists and recent publications in more mainstream journals seem to agree. So why then are modern clinical studies focused on genetics, immune-oncology, and a variety of other topics published in “evidence-based” science journals describing racial cohorts as biological variables?

As modern clinical research trials continue to recruit and randomize participants based on a variety of variables-- race seems the murkiest. Are we trying to balance participant diversity in social categories or are we quantifying associations between ancestry and risk for certain genetic traits? Is social identity a usable proxy for the information in an inherited gene profile? It is clear that racial identity has nothing to do with genes or genetic variation. But how is the data influencing health policy and for that matter social economies across the globe?

I am hesitant to cry maleficence. I believe we just don’t slow down enough to notice the crude approximation of using race when we really mean either specific biochemical or genetic variants or social determinants of health like poverty, lack of education, or housing to name a few.

How is race impacting health policy? What definitions are being applied to the modern and very real impact of reforming healthcare? Although race informs policy and overall spending on social services and health, there is a lack of evidence supporting the notion that humans are divided by race. Even dictionary.com states, “Genetic evidence has undermined the idea of racial divisions of the human species and rendered race obsolete as a biological system of classification”. 

To be blunt, genomes have not yielded a single absolute genetic difference if we disregard recent migration patterns. The real differentiator remains—how frequent the genetic variants are present on different continents and even specifically, different regions--polymorphic variation (within-population biologic variation) vs. polytypic variation (between-population biologic variation).

Findings from data reported by the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development or OECD, demonstrate that the United States spends less (quite a bit less) on social services and more on health care (quite a bit more)—a proven weak health determinant. Recognition of social, economic, and environmental factors shape not only individual opportunities and barriers for a culture of health but these are often magnified in under-served communities.

There is no shortage of articles being published through race-colored glasses. We try to do our best but always are reduced to a few mea culpas about how we are still struggling to define the undefinable.

A recent article published in Science, Disparities in Science Literacy attempted to explain potential drivers of science literacy disadvantages among black and Hispanic adults.

The problem as I see it--from a data perspective--arises when we do not qualify education beyond level of attainment. The authors conclude

"Although we adjust for educational qualifications, we do not capture differences in the quality of education experienced by blacks and Hispanics."

If you are not clear on the definition of "race" as social, political, or biologic--your premise will never lead to workable solutions or anthropologic discoveries of what makes us human.

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