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Ethnicity and psychopharmacology

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Abstract

In clinical studies and cross-national surveys, cultural or ethnic factors have been found to be significant determinants in patients' responses to psychotropic medication. Dosage requirements and the potential for toxic reactions might differ amongst racial and ethnic groups. In this paper, the authors review the relevant literature and examine pharmacodynamic, pharmacokinetic and cultural-psychological factors, all of which could be responsible for such ethnic variations.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Psychiatry, Harbor-UCLA Medical Center, 90509, Torrance, CA, U.S.A.

    Keh-Ming Lin, Russell E. Poland & Ira M. Lesser

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  1. Keh-Ming Lin
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  2. Russell E. Poland
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  3. Ira M. Lesser
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Additional information

This paper is based on research supported in part by NIHM Grants MH38563-01 (Dr. Lin) and MH34471 (Dr. Poland). An earlier version of this manuscript was presented at the American Psychiatric Association annual meeting, May 5–11, 1984, Los Angeles, California, Symposium on Clinical Cultural Psychiatry: The State of the Art. The authors thank Sharon Kajioka-Hom for expect secretarial assistance.

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Lin, KM., Poland, R.E. & Lesser, I.M. Ethnicity and psychopharmacology. Cult Med Psych 10, 151–165 (1986). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00156581

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