Your Ethnic Background

Caucasians are twice as likely to develop bladder cancer as African Americans or Hispanics.

African-American women are more at risk of cervical cancer than are Caucasians.

People of African ancestry are twice as likely to suffer from cluster headaches, compared to Caucasian people.

African-Americans have higher rates of diabetes, prostate cancer, hypertension and coronary heart disease than whites.

Cystic Fibrosis is the most common genetic disease amongst Caucasians.

Type 1 diabetes is rare in most Asian, African and American Indian populations and more common in Caucasians.

African-Americans have higher rates of diabetes, prostate cancer, hypertension and coronary heart disease than whites.  Hispanics have a higher rate of diabetes than whites.  Among people who do not have diabetes, insulin levels are higher in Mexican Americans than in non-Hispanic whites, indicating their greater predisposition for developing type 2 diabetes.  Several other studies have also shown a higher rate of hyperinsulinemia in Hispanics than in non-Hispanics. [Diabetes in America 2nd ed., NIH Publication No. 95-1468, pp.613-630]

As a general rule, gallbladder disease is most common in North and South Americans as well as those of European descent.  At highest risk are American Indians, followed by Hispanics, non-Hispanic whites, and non-Hispanic blacks.  Those of African or Asian descent are at lower risk.

Glaucoma is more common in certain racial groups, notably Afro-Caribbeans.

According to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), AIDS affects nearly seven times more African Americans than whites. [CDC HIV/AIDS Surveillance Report, Vol. 12, 2000]

Hypertension occurs more often in black adults (32%) than in white (23%) or Mexican American (23%) adults, and morbidity and mortality are greater amongst blacks.

For reasons unknown, 90% of interstitial cystitis cases occur among Caucasians.

A very significant number of Asian people suffer from lactose intolerance.  Seventy-five percent of African Americans cannot tolerate lactose.

People of Chinese, Japanese, and Southeast Asian descent are especially likely to be myopic.

Non-Hodgkin's lymphoma occurs more frequently in whites than in African-Americans.

Studies in the United States have shown that pancreatic cancer is more common in the African-American population than it is in the white population.  Some of this increased risk may be due to socioeconomic factors and higher levels of cigarette smoking.

African-Americans have higher rates of diabetes, prostate cancer, hypertension and coronary heart disease than whites.

The death rate from stroke in African Americans is almost double that of Caucasians.

For unknown reasons, testicular cancer is about four times more common in white men than in black men.

Dark-skinned people and people with a compromised immune system tend to have more serious infections.