Predisposed to risk but not change CMAJ (genetic testing series)

......Of course, considering that the predictive power of genetic testing tends to be underwhelming, perhaps it’s no surprise that personalized genetic information induces more shoulder shrugs than lifestyle changes. “One of the challenges is that people are behaving rationally, to a degree, when they don’t change their behaviours. These genetic tests aren’t very predictive,” says Timothy Caulfield, a Canada Research Chair in Health Law and Technology who teaches in the law faculty and school of public health at the University of Alberta. “If you find you have a health risk of 2% instead of 1%, that type of risk is lost in the noise of risk in your life.” 

Editor’s note: Sixth of a multipart series on genetic testing.

Part 1: Separating hype from reality in the era of the affordable genome (www.cmaj.ca/lookup/doi/10.1503/cmaj.109-4143).

Part 2: Popping the genetics bubble (www.cmaj.ca/lookup/doi/10.1503/cmaj.109-4142).

Part 3: Who should hold the keys to your DNA? (www.cmaj.ca/lookup/doi/10.1503/cmaj.109-4141).

Part 4: A race-based detour to personalized medicine (www.cmaj.ca/lookup/doi/10.1503/cmaj.109-4133).

Part 5: Race and genetics in the doctor’s office (www.cmaj.ca/lookup/doi/10.1503/cmaj.109-4134).