@article {10020,
	title = {The Geographic Distribution of Genetic Risk as Compared to Social Risk for Chronic Diseases in the United States.},
	journal = {Biodemography and Social Biology},
	volume = {62},
	year = {2016},
	month = {2016},
	pages = {126-42},
	abstract = {There is an association between chronic disease and geography, and there is evidence that the environment plays a critical role in this relationship. Yet at the same time, there is known to be substantial geographic variation by ancestry across the United States. Resulting geographic genetic variation-that is, the extent to which single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) related to chronic disease vary spatially-could thus drive some part of the association between geography and disease. We describe the variation in chronic disease genetic risk by state of birth by taking risk SNPs from genome-wide association study meta-analyses for coronary artery disease, diabetes, and ischemic stroke and creating polygenic risk scores. We compare the amount of variability across state of birth in these polygenic scores to the variability in parental education, own education, earnings, and wealth. Our primary finding is that the polygenic risk scores are only weakly differentially distributed across U.S. states. The magnitude of the differences in geographic distribution is very small in comparison to the distribution of social and economic factors and thus is not likely sufficient to have a meaningful effect on geographic disease differences by U.S. state. },
	keywords = {Chronic conditions, Genetics, Geography, Social Factors},
	issn = {1948-5573},
	doi = {10.1080/19485565.2016.1141353},
	author = {David Rehkopf and Benjamin W Domingue and Cullen, Mark R}
}
@article {8612,
	title = {Genetic vulnerability to diabetes and obesity: does education offset the risk?},
	journal = {Soc Sci Med},
	volume = {127},
	year = {2015},
	month = {2015 Feb},
	pages = {150-8},
	abstract = {<p>The prevalence of type 2 diabetes (T2D) and obesity has recently increased dramatically. These common diseases are likely to arise from the interaction of multiple genetic, socio-demographic and environmental risk factors. While previous research has found genetic risk and education to be strong predictors of these diseases, few studies to date have examined their joint effects. This study investigates whether education modifies the association between genetic background and risk for type 2 diabetes (T2D) and obesity. Using data from non-Hispanic Whites in the Health and Retirement Study (HRS, n~=~8398), we tested whether education modifies genetic risk for obesity and T2D, offsetting genetic effects; whether this effect is larger for individuals who have high risk for other (unobserved) reasons, i.e., at higher quantiles of HbA1c and BMI; and whether effects differ by gender. We measured T2D risk using Hemoglobin A1c (HbA1c) level, and obesity risk using body-mass index (BMI). We constructed separate genetic risk scores (GRS) for obesity and diabetes respectively based on the most current available information on the single nucleotide polymorphism (SNPs) confirmed as genome-wide significant predictors for BMI (29 SNPs) and diabetes risk (39 SNPs). Linear regression models with years of schooling indicate that the effect of genetic risk on HbA1c is smaller among people with more years of schooling and larger among those with less than a high school (HS) degree compared to HS degree-holders. Quantile regression models show that the GRS~{\texttimes}~education effect systematically increased along the HbA1c outcome distribution; for example the GRS~{\texttimes}~years of education interaction coefficient was~-0.01 (95\% CI~=~-0.03, 0.00) at the 10th percentile compared to~-0.03 (95\% CI~=~-0.07, 0.00) at the 90th percentile. These results suggest that education may be an important socioeconomic source of heterogeneity in responses to genetic vulnerability to T2D. </p>},
	keywords = {Aged, Body Mass Index, Diabetes Mellitus, Type 2, Educational Status, European Continental Ancestry Group, Female, Genetic Predisposition to Disease, Genotype, Glycated Hemoglobin A, Health Status Disparities, Humans, Male, Middle Aged, Obesity, Risk Factors, Social determinants of health},
	issn = {1873-5347},
	doi = {10.1016/j.socscimed.2014.09.009},
	url = {http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0277953614005760},
	author = {Sze Y Liu and Stefan Walter and Jessica R Marden and David Rehkopf and Laura D Kubzansky and Thu T Nguyen and M. Maria Glymour}
}
