In the current era of direct-to-consumer genetic testing, many fear that individuals will put too much faith in a genetic test result.
But a study from the C.S. Mott Children’s Hospital indicates information from family history and genetic testing caused equal concern among parents about their children’s risk of disease.
“We were surprised to find that parents were not overly concerned about a child’s genetic test result compared to a child’s genetic risk that comes from family history,” says study lead author Dr. Beth Tarini, an assistant professor of pediatrics and a member of the Child Health Evaluation and Research (CHEAR) Unit in the Division of General Pediatrics at Mott. “Our findings suggest that even as genetic tests become more accessible, family history will likely remain a meaningful part of a child’s health evaluation and our discussions with parents.”
In contrast, when asked about themselves, parents were more likely to be worried when family history — not genetic testing — indicated that there may be a chance for developing a disease.
“Parents interpreted risk differently for themselves than for their children,” Tarini says.
The study, which appears in the November issue of Archives of Pediatric & Adolescent Medicine, asked parents separately to assess their level of concern for their own as well as their children’s genetic disease risk based on family history and genetic testing.
Direct-to-consumer genetic testing makes it easier for families to get genetic test results, and studies have shown that individual perceptions of genetic disease risk can influence health care decisions. Therefore, Tarini and her colleagues thought it was important to learn more about whether parents are more concerned about their child’s genetic risk when it comes from a genetic test result.
In all, the source of the risk information — family history or genetic test results — did not affect parents’ concern about their children’s disease risk. Tarini says these results reinforce the importance of using family history, not just genetic testing, to assess disease risk.
Funding for the research was supported by the U-M Clinical Science Scholars Program.
