Will genetic testing motivate you to healthier life?
October 11, 2008 by Grace Ibay
Filed under Genetic Testing, Genetic risk
With genetic testing companies sprouting everywhere, people now have the resource to know their risks for certain types of disease. Companies like Navigenics, 23andme Inc. and DeCode Genetics all offer genetic tests to their consumers to show whether certain genetic mutations make them more likely to develop diseases such as heart disease, cancer or diabetes.
But is it enough to know? Or will knowing what the inherent risks are motivate a person to make changes to his lifestyle to prevent the disease from developing?
Surprisingly, no research has been performed that answers this question.
"There are a lot of anecdotes about this, and the question is, What is the impact? It’s been dangling for a while and no one has really orchestrated a project like this until now to study it," says Eric J. Topol, director of the Scripps Translational Science Institute.
Topol and his colleagues will conduct a prospective study that will conduct genetic testing on 10,000 Scripps Health hospital chain employees, family members and friends. Health care decisions and lifestyle of the participants will be followed up for the next 20 years, to answer this and other questions relating to genetic testing and health care choices.
