Study the forest, not only the trees: Environmental exposures, not genomes, generate most health disparities

Abstract

As sequencing and analysis techniques provide increasingly detailed data at a plummeting cost, it is increasingly popular to seek the answers to medical and public health challenges in the DNA sequences of affected populations. This is methodologically attractive in its simplicity, but a genomics-only approach ignores environmentally mediated health disparities, which are well-documented at multiple national and global scales. While genetic differences exist among populations, it is unlikely that these differences overcome social and environmental factors in driving the gap in health outcomes between privileged and oppressed communities. We advocate for following the lead of communities in addressing their self-identified interests, rather than treating widespread suffering as a convenient natural experiment.

Sun exposure, a relevant exposome factor in acne patients and how photoprotection can improve outcomes

“…The exposome is highly dynamic, and the characterization of all factors is impossible in real life. Environmental factors or exposures, rather than genetic factors, can be more important to health and may generate most health disparities 28 …”

“…Environmental factors or exposures, rather than genetic factors, can be more important to health and may generate most health disparities. 28…”