We tested 19 common genetic risk markers that were discovered in European populations. We found that association with all 19 of these SNPs trended in the same direction in this large multiethnic study, and the majority of these variants were nominally significant in their association with diabetes risk. A risk score comprised of these alleles was significantly associated with diabetes risk in all five racial/ethnic groups, with the only significant heterogeneity being larger effect sizes in Japanese Americans. However, in comparing the distribution of risk conferred by these alleles between populations we found that they explain little, if any, of known differences in the prevalence of diabetes between these populations.
