Study gauges emotional toll of direct-to-consumer genetic testing
Monday, October 3, 2011 - 15:00
in Health & Medicine
Among the latest health care trends seeking to advance "individualized medicine" are private companies marketing genetic testing directly to patients. The mail-in kits, with price tags as high as $2,500, use a saliva specimen to identify small variations in the human genome (called "single nucleotide polymorphisms" or "SNPs") associated with heightened risk for diseases such as diabetes and prostate cancer. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has raised concerns about whether the tests are clinically beneficial and has advocated they be conducted under medical supervision, but few studies to date have investigated the emotional effects that direct-to-consumer genetic screens have on patients.