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Caucasian race and lung function: time to revisit the racial groups used in reference values

Skin and Allergy Hospital, Helsinki University Central Hospital, Helsinki, Finland.

To the Editors:

We would like to comment upon the term "Caucasian", used in the article by Vandervoorde et al. 1, and in general upon the racial groups still employed in the modern lung-function reference values.

The term Caucasian originates from J.F. Blumenbach, a German physiologist and anthropologist, born in Gotha, Germany in 1752. He studied medicine at Jena, Germany, and graduated in 1775 with his MD thesis De generis humani varietate nativa [On the Natural Varieties of Mankind] 2.

On the basis of his craniometrical research (analysis of human skulls), he divided humanity, Homo sapiens, into five races: 1) Caucasian or white; 2) Mongolian or yellow; 3) Malayan or brown; 4) Negro, Ethiopian or black; and 5) American or red.

He thought that the region of origin of white Europeans lay near the Caucasus Mountains, and so started to refer to them as "Caucasian". The "fairness" and relative high brows of Caucasians were regarded as physical expressions of a loftier mentality and a more generous spirit. This classification, and the scientific concept of human races, was widely accepted for 200 yrs.

In the late 20th century, Homo sapiens were seen as monotypic, i.e. not deserving to be divided into races or subspecies.

Modern science uses genetic methods; thus, the concept of race afforded by these techniques is more or less synonymous to ancestry. Studies of mitochondrial DNA 3, the Y chromosome 4, portions of the X chromosome 5 and many autosomal regions 6 support the notion that modern humans first appeared in eastern Africa and then migrated throughout Africa and into the rest of the world 7.

Modern biological evidence contradicts earlier theories and shows that, genetically, humans are all related. Humanity first split into African and Eurasian/Oceanic branches, which share a common origin. The Eurasian branch split further into the Amerindian and major East Asian branches, the latter splitting still further into the Russian and East Asian branches.

The United States Census Bureau still defines races (Public Law 94–171. Redistricting Data File. Updated every 10 yrs). The categories are sociopolitical constructions and should not be interpreted as being scientific or anthropological in nature. In the UK, police use a classification based on the ethnic background of British society.

We do not know why the term Caucasian is constantly used in modern lung-function testing, although it is solely a historical term in anthropological science. Some ethnic characterisation might be useful to define a certain population for which reference values are given. For instance, in Finland reference values are given for the original Finnish inhabitants. In many other countries, European values are used. However, white people are not "Caucasians", and it is definitely time to drop J.F. Blumenbach's racial categorisation.

REFERENCES

1. Vandevoorde J, Verbanck S, Schuermans D, Kartounian J, Vincken W. Obstructive and restrictive spirometric patterns: fixed cut-offs for FEV₁/FEV₆ and FEV₆. Eur Respir J 2006;27:378–383.[Abstract/Free Full Text]
2. Blumenbach J.F. De generis humani varietate nativa. Göttingen, University of Göttingen, 1775
3. Ingman M, Kaessmann H, Paabo S, Gyllensten U. Mitochondrial genome variation and the origin of modern humans. Nature 2000;408:708–713.[CrossRef][Medline] [Order article via Infotrieve]
4. Underhill PA, Underhill PA, Shen P, et al. Y chromosome sequence variation and the history of human populations. Nat Genet 2000;26:358–361.[CrossRef][Web of Science][Medline] [Order article via Infotrieve]
5. Kaessmann H, Heissig F, von Haeseler A, Paabo S. DNA sequence variation in a non-coding region of low recombination on the human X chromosome. Nat Genet 1999;22:78–81.[CrossRef][Web of Science][Medline] [Order article via Infotrieve]
6. Harpending H, Rogers A. Genetic perspectives on human origins and differentiation. Annu Rev Genomics Hum Genet 2000;1:361–385.[CrossRef][Web of Science][Medline] [Order article via Infotrieve]
7. Relethford J. The Human Species: an Introduction to Biological Anthropology. 5th Edn. New York, McGraw-Hill, 2003

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