Upload Your DNA to a Web Site to Generate Risk Scores for Five Diseases

I have posted a few notes about predictive diagnostic algorithms (see:An Algorithm Using Medical Record Data Predicts Risk for Parkinson's Disease;Should the Work Product of"Non-Explainable" Medical Algorithms Be Ignored) and disease risk scores (see:Genetic Risk Scores: Ready for Inclusion in the Medical Record?). Using AI techniques, researchers at Massachusetts General are developing a web site that will display a risk score for five common diseases after consumers upload their DNA to the site (see:Clues to Your Health Are Hidden at 6.6 Million Spots in Your DNA). The algorithm takes into account millions of alterations in the DNA rather than a few focal changes. Below is an excerpt from the article about this news:...[R]esearchers are now building a website that will allow anyone to upload genetic data from a company like 23andMe or Ancestry.com. Users will receive risk scores for heart disease, breast cancer, Type 2 diabetes, chronic inflammatory bowel disease and atrial fibrillation....Dr.Sekar Kathiresan, senior author of the new paper and director of the Center for Genomic Medicine at Massachusetts General Hospital, said his team had validated the heart risk calculation in multiple populations. But DNA is not destiny, Dr. Kathiresan stressed.A healthy lifestyle and cholesterol-lowering medications can substantially reduce risk of heart attack, even in those who have inherited a genetic predisposition. The new tool also can find people at the low en...
Source: Lab Soft News - Category: Laboratory Medicine Authors: Tags: Clinical Lab Industry News Clinical Lab Testing Genomic Testing Healthcare Information Technology Healthcare Innovations Lab Industry Trends Lab Processes and Procedures Medical Consumerism Medical Research Source Type: blogs