Towards Diversity in Asthma Pharmacogenetics

Asthma is the most common chronic disease in children, and it disproportionally affects children from non-White minorities. A meta-analysis of 13 studies from the UK reported a higher frequency of clinician-diagnosed asthma in Black (15·0%), compared with White (10·6%) and south Asian children (7·6%). 1 Netuveli G Hurwitz B Levy M et al. Ethnic variations in UK asthma frequency, morbidity, and health-service use: a systematic review and meta-analysis. Lancet. 2005; 365: 312-317 Summary Full Text Full Text PDF PubMed Scopus (88) Google Scholar In the USA, Black children with asthma have higher rates of emergency department visits, hospitalisations, and asthma-related deaths compared with White children. 2 Akinbami LJ Moorman JE Simon AE Schoendorf KC Trends in racial disparities for asthma outcomes among children 0 to 17 years, 2001–2010. J Allergy Clin Immunol. 2014; 134: 547-553.e5 Summary Full Text Full Text PDF PubMed Scopus (182) Google Scholar Pharmacogenetic studies of long-acting beta agonist and inhaled corticosteroid responsiveness in randomised controlled trials of individuals of African descent with asthmaBARD is the first genome-wide pharmacogenetic study of LABA and ICS response in clinical trials of individuals of African descent to detect and replicate genome-wide significant loci. Admixture mapping of the composite BARD trial outcome enabled the identification of novel pharmacogenetic variation accounting for differential therapeutic responses in people of African descent with asthma. Full-Text PDF