May 18, 2012

Connie K. Ho for RedOrbit.com

Recently, genetic tests have been on the rise and are offered by more and more commercial producers. While there are many opportunities for people to participate in genetic testing, this doesnt necessarily mean that people are following up on those services. These are the results found in a study that is published in the May 17 issue of Genetics in Medicine.

The study was a collaborative project by the Multiplex Initiative, which includes researchers from the National Institutes of Healths Intramural Research Program, the Group Health Cooperative, and the Henry Ford Health System. Researchers analyzed variants of genes related to diseases such as colorectal cancer, coronary heart disease, high blood cholesterol, hypertension, lung cancer, melanoma, osteoporosis, and type 2 diabetes. The study allowed researchers to better understand patients health care needs.

Our study was a best-case scenario, because we chose 15 genes reliably associated with relatively small risks for eight common diseases that health behaviors can affect, remarked lead author Dr. Robert J. Reid in a prepared statement. We hope that testing positive activates patients to make behavior changes that could lower their risk, such as quitting smoking without causing them to make many extra visits to their doctors.

The report was one of the first studies that looked at electronic health records, as opposed to self-reported behavior, to quantify the impact of genetic testing on health services chosen by adults.

We need to understand the impact of genomic discoveries on the health care system if these powerful technologies are going to improve human health, explained Dr. Dan Kastner, scientific director and head of the National Human Genome Research Institutes (NHGRI) Division of Intramural Research, in a statement. We are still learning how to integrate new genomic discoveries into clinical care effectively and efficiently.

Genetic tests are also important because they can find variants of genes related to the changes in the risk of developing a particular disease.

Understanding personalized genetic information is important because it is becoming more readily available and we need to figure out how to integrate it effectively and efficiently into the clinical care we provide, noted coauthor Dr. Eric B. Larson in a prepared statement.

The scientists hope to continue to research consumer interest of genetic testing and how that affects patients long-term health care goals.

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Few Use Follow Up Services After Genetic Testing