To allow for comparability of estimates of genetic risk among racial/ethnic groups requires large studies comprised of cases and controls defined using identical criteria and sampled ideally from the same study population. In the present study, we, as part of the Population Architecture using Genomics and Epidemiology (PAGE) Study, examined genetic associations with 19 validated risk alleles for T2D in European American, African American, Latino, Japanese American, and Native Hawaiian T2D cases (n = 6,142) and controls (n = 7,403) from the population-based Multiethnic Cohort study (MEC). We also evaluated whether these variants can be utilized to model the genetic risk of T2D in each population and their association to disparities in risk.
