Myers Hector F, Fair Alecia M, Villalta Fernando, Walz Katherina, Beech Bettina M, Scott William K, Haas David W
Department of Medicine, Health & Society, Department of Psychology, and Department of African American & Diaspora Studies, Vanderbilt University, Nashville, Tennessee, USA.
Department of Medicine, Division of Geriatric Medicine, Vanderbilt University Medical Center, Meharry-Vanderbilt Alliance, Nashville, Tennessee, USA.
Health Equity. 2021 May 13;5(1):288-298. doi: 10.1089/heq.2020.0131. eCollection 2021.
The Precision Medicine Health Disparities Collaborative fosters collaboration between researchers with diverse backgrounds in precision medicine and health disparities research, to include training at the interface between genomics and health disparities. Understanding how perceptions about precision medicine differ by background may inform activities to better understand such differences. We conducted a cross-sectional survey of Center members and beyond. Data were collected on categories of educational background, current activities, and level of agreement with 20 statements related to genomics and health disparities. Respondents categorized their background and activities as social/behavioral, genetics, both, or neither. Fisher's exact test was used to assess levels of agreement in response to each statement. Statistically significant associations were further analyzed using ordinal logistic regression adjusting for age, self-identified race/ethnicity, and gender. Of 130 respondents, 50 (38%) identified educational backgrounds and current activities as social-behavioral or genomic 55 (42%). Respondents differed by educational background on the statement Lifestyle and other life experiences influence how genes impact disease risk (=0.0009). Respondents also differed by current activities on the statement Reducing disparities in access to health care will make precision medicine more effective (=0.0008), and on Racism and discrimination make me concerned about how genetic test results will be used (=0.0011). Respondents who differed on prior education and current activities, whether social behavioral science or human genomics, were associated with different perceptions regarding precision medicine and health disparities. These results identify potential barriers and opportunities to strengthen transdisciplinary collaboration.
精准医学健康差异协作组织促进了在精准医学和健康差异研究方面具有不同背景的研究人员之间的合作，包括在基因组学与健康差异交叉领域的培训。了解对精准医学的认知如何因背景不同而存在差异，可能会为更好地理解这些差异的活动提供信息。我们对该中心成员及其他人员进行了一项横断面调查。收集了有关教育背景类别、当前活动以及对与基因组学和健康差异相关的20条陈述的认同程度的数据。受访者将自己的背景和活动归类为社会/行为学、遗传学、两者皆有或两者皆无。使用费舍尔精确检验来评估对每条陈述的认同程度。对于具有统计学显著关联的结果，进一步使用有序逻辑回归进行分析，并对年龄、自我认定的种族/族裔和性别进行了调整。在130名受访者中，50人（38%）将教育背景和当前活动确定为社会行为学或基因组学方面的，55人（42%）则不是。在“生活方式和其他生活经历会影响基因对疾病风险的影响”这一陈述上，受访者的教育背景存在差异（P = 0.0009）。在“减少医疗保健获取方面的差异将使精准医学更有效”这一陈述上，受访者的当前活动也存在差异（P = 0.0008），在“种族主义和歧视让我担心基因检测结果将如何被使用”这一陈述上同样存在差异（P = 0.0011）。在先前教育和当前活动方面存在差异的受访者，无论其背景是社会行为科学还是人类基因组学，对精准医学和健康差异都有不同的认知。这些结果确定了加强跨学科合作的潜在障碍和机遇。
