The Consequences of Sequencing Healthy People

June 28, 2017

(The Scientist) – Physicians are increasingly using patients’ genomic data to fight cancer or diagnose unexplained symptoms. But in individuals with no discernable signs of illness, it’s uncertain whether knowing their genomic blueprints is beneficial, and whether primary care physicians are up to the challenge of managing these data for their patients. In the first study of its kind to evaluate whole genome sequencing in a randomized fashion, published today (June 26) in the Annals of Internal Medicine, researchers report that although primary care physicians are capable of contending with genomic information, its value for healthy patients remains ambiguous.