ABSTRACT
The concept of biologic variation is relatively new to the health field. Consequently, the health ramifications of biologic variation have not been studied in depth or in a systematic way. While some areas of biologic variation have received attention — mostly disease syndromes like diabetes and hypertension — most areas are little explored. The sparseness of data on the general subject is also reflected in the scarcity of information on specific groups. Particular areas of biologic variation related to health and illness that need much more study are growth and development, the healthy aging process, clinical and laboratory measurements, biochemical variants, drug metabolism differences, and sex differences in response to environmental, physical, and psychological stresses. Clinicians and their counterparts in academe need to collaborate on studies that elucidate the yet undiscovered variety in people, especially the differences that affect health care.
