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Thursday, March 10, 2016

Direct-to-Consumer Genetic Testing and Public Health Education Genomics and Health Impact Blog



Genomics and Health Impact Blog  CDC

 We have previously blogged about the value (or lack thereof) of direct-to-consumer (DTC) genetic tests in improving health. In a 2011 blog entitled “think before you spit” we cautioned that there was very little evidence that the use of such tests improves health and prevents disease for healthy people in the population. The blog was followed by a number of comments from our readers that questioned some of our statements, leading us to write another piece entitled: “think (again) before you spit”. In 2012, with new data showing increasing awareness and use of DTC genetic tests, we published another blog entitled: “think after you spit” in which we postulated based on recent surveys of DTC genetic testing the possibility of a “teachable moment for consumers and health care providers to engage in a dialogue on improving health and preventing disease using these tests as a starting point for discussion.”
Fast forward to 2016. Many things have changed in the past 4 years. Genomic technology has improved, genetic tests have proliferated, and more consumers have undergone DTC genetic tests. How did the idea of a “teachable moment” work out in the real world? In a recent study of more than a thousand consumers who have undergone DTC genetic testing, a third of participants believed that their results could be used to improve their health. In addition, 27% of participants reported sharing their results with their healthcare providers within 6 months. Of these, only 35% were very satisfied with the encounter with their providers, and 18% were not at all satisfied. Frequent themes in describing encounters with providers included actionability of the results for use in care and lack of provider engagement or interest......

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