The next four papers focus on under-represented racial/ethnic groups in genetic research on AUD. Each paper reviews issues relevant to a single population. Enoch and Albaugh 6 describe the alcohol consumption patterns of American Indian and Alaskan Native individuals in relation to potential environmental risk factors for heavy drinking. Matsushita and Higuchi 7 then describe the use of selected Asian samples to investigate genetic variations of alcohol metabolizing enzymes in relation to AUD to better understand G-E interactions. Martinez et al. 8 note that the Latino population is diverse along important sociodemographic and genetic factors, and genetic studies may have potential importance for addressing significant alcohol problems in many communities. Dick et al. 9 discuss the importance of including African Americans in genetic studies because such samples may contain genetic variants that differentially impact the etiology of AUD versus other racial/ethnic groups.
