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. Author manuscript; available in PMC: 2023 Dec 14.
Published in final edited form as: Annu Rev Biomed Data Sci. 2023 May 17;6:339–356. doi: 10.1146/annurev-biodatasci-122220-113250

Figure 2.

Figure 2

Genome-wide association study (GWAS) consortia population distribution from the early 2000s to the 2020s. Historically, GWAS have been made up of an overwhelming majority of individuals of European ancestry. Therefore, it is unsurprising that the early consortia-powered GWAS lack ancestral diversity. While recent efforts to purposely oversample populations historically underrepresented in research are underway, equitable healthcare can only be achieved if these efforts are more widespread. A 2019 commentary summarized the ancestral distribution of GWAS studies and individuals within studies, finding that while approximately half (48%) of research studies contain data from non-European participants, nearly 79% of the study samples are participants of European ancestry, 10% are Asian, 2% are African, and 1% are Hispanic or Latin American (20). This lack of diverse representation exacerbates health disparities and hinders our understanding of the role of genetic ancestry in disease etiology. Figure adapted from images created with BioRender.com.