How is my ethnicity relevant to some disease risks? Why is my ethnicity a disease risk factor?

For certain diseases, genetics have a significant effect on disease risk. Providing ethnicity details can let Healthcheck build a profile that is more relevant in terms of a statistical risk score. For example, people of South Asian descent have a higher risk of cardiovascular disease such as heart attack - this may be due to multiple factors including genetics, typical diet etc. Ethnicity is only included as a risk factor where it increases risk on an individual level, and not where ethnicity is used as a proxy measure for other factors such as socioeconomic background.