Family First:Family History Better at Predicting Disease Risk than Screening

Research was led by Dr. Charles Eng to see wither it was better to do family history or a genetic test to predict the risk of cancer for an individual. The Genomic Medicine Institute of the Cleveland Clinic found through research it is better to do a thorough family history then a genomic screening to predict the risk of cancer. Eng said that “Evaluation of family health history still remains to be the gold standard in personal disease risk assessment. The article tells us that genomic screening is not the same as genetic testing. Genomic screening uses portions of a person’s genetic makeup to determine wither there are genetic variants that put people at a higher risk to develop any particular type of diseases. Genetic testing is where people are screened for the presence of an entire gene known to cause a disease. Eng and her colleagues tested 44 people on their risk for developing breast cancer, prostate cancer, and colorectal cancer by using their complete family history and by using a genomic testing tool. The research that was found was that the genomic screening did not identify nine people who were at high risk for colon cancer because of their family history. Doctor’s said that knowing a patient’s family history can determine how a patient will respond to different treatments. Obtaining the information for family history is easy to do and may cost little to no money. One downfall is the time the doctors are put under to conduct this test. Another downfall is that they may not take a thorough enough exam. Dr. Bruce Korf, president of American College of Medical Genetics, said “ There is also potential for misuse and or misinterpretation of results, particularly given the lack of professional counseling that accompanies the results in some cases, and most of the results do not lead to clear actions to modify risk.” Eng stated “personal genomic screening tests could potentially be more effective and accurate if combined with family health history information and used as a complementary tool for cancer risk assessment.” I think that a family health history screening will be better anyway so that you will know more about the situation and how it affected that person who is close to you.
-Danielle Crews-