Institute for Behavioral Genetics.
Department of Psychology, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis.
Health Psychol. 2018 Dec;37(12):1134-1144. doi: 10.1037/hea0000683. Epub 2018 Oct 11.
Advances in genomewide association studies have made possible the return of genetic risk results for complex diseases. Two concerns about these results are (a) negative psychological consequences and (b) viewing probabilistic results as deterministic, leading to misinterpretation and inappropriate decisions. The present study evaluates these concerns through a meta-analytic review of existing literature.
Seventeen genetic testing studies of complex disease, including 1,171 participants and reporting 195 effects, 104 of which were unadjusted for covariates, were meta-analyzed under a random effects model. Diseases included Alzheimer's, cardiovascular and coronary heart disease, lung cancer, melanoma, thrombophilia, and type II diabetes. Six domains of behavioral-psychological reactions were examined.
Carriers showed significantly increased self-reported behavior change compared to noncarriers when assessed 6 months or later after results return (Hedges's g = .36, p = .019).
Return of genetic testing results for complex disease does not strongly impact self-reported negative behavior or psychological function of at-risk individuals. Return of results does appear to moderately increase self-reported healthy behavior in carriers, although research on objectively observed behavior change is needed. This is a growing area of research, with preliminary results suggesting potential positive implications of genetic testing for complex disease on behavior change. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2018 APA, all rights reserved).
全基因组关联研究的进展使得复杂疾病的遗传风险结果得以返回。人们对这些结果主要有两个担忧：（a）负面的心理后果，以及（b）将概率结果视为确定性的，从而导致误解和不当决策。本研究通过对现有文献的元分析评估了这些担忧。
对包括阿尔茨海默病、心血管和冠心病、肺癌、黑色素瘤、血栓形成和 2 型糖尿病在内的 17 种复杂疾病的基因检测研究进行了荟萃分析，这些研究共纳入了 1171 名参与者和 195 个效应，其中 104 个未对协变量进行调整，采用随机效应模型进行分析。共考察了六个行为-心理反应领域。
在结果返回 6 个月或更长时间后，与非携带者相比，携带者的自我报告行为改变显著增加（Hedges's g =.36，p =.019）。
复杂疾病基因检测结果的返回并没有强烈影响高危个体的自我报告负面行为或心理功能。结果的返回似乎确实适度增加了携带者的自我报告健康行为，但需要对客观观察到的行为变化进行研究。这是一个不断发展的研究领域，初步结果表明，复杂疾病的基因检测可能对行为改变产生积极影响。（PsycINFO 数据库记录（c）2018 APA，保留所有权利）。
