Race and ethnicity are not clearly defined in biomedical literature and misaligned with genomics and epigenomic findings; the guidelines for consistent reporting in publications and regulations from health authorities are lacking.

Minority populations are underrepresented in clinical studies; this limits the identification of risk profiles for diseases (which is the main objective of precision medicine) and fuels false beliefs and implicit bias of clinical decisions. This setting hinders interpreting, generalisation of findings, and prevention planning, and increases socio-economic disparities in healthcare access.

This review outlines recent studies on race and ethnicity and criteria for the proper use of terminology according to evidence, clarity, transparency, and ethics in biomedical documents.