18/01/2010
Genetic testing no real help in predicting type 2 diabetes
Findings question benefits of genetic home screening tests
New research funded by
the British Heart Foundation and the Medical
Research Council has today revealed that genetic testing provides
no real help in predicting the risk of developing type 2 diabetes, a major risk
factor for heart disease.
The findings question the benefit of genetic direct-to-public
home screening tests currently available on the
market, which claim to be able to predict the risk of diabetes.
Researchers at University College London based
on 20 genetic variants with two
currently used risk prediction tools based on age,
body mass, index and family history of diabetes - the
Cambridge Type 2 risk score and
the American Framingham Offspring Study Risk
Score(1).
The study, published in the British Medical
Journal, assessed 5,535 initially healthy people,
302 participants developed type 2
diabetes over ten years.
The Cambridge Type 2 risk score correctly
predicted 20% and the Framingham score predicted
30% of those who finally developed type 2
diabetes.
The team of researchers then looked at the
genetic profile of the group, analysing whether they carried one or
more of 20 gene variants known to be associated
with risk of developing type 2 diabetes.
Adding this genetic information did
not significantly improve the ability to predict
development of diabetes for either of the risk factor scores.
There are currently 2.6
million people living with diabetes in the UK, of those
85% are believed to have type 2 diabetes which can
lead to long term complications including heart
attack, stroke,
amputation, blindness,
kidney failure and nerve
damage(2).
A variety of genetic home screening tests are
currently available on the market, which claim to be able to detect
the risk of developing this life long condition.
Lead author of the study Professor Steve Humphries, pictured
right, BHF Chair of Cardiovascular Genetics at
UCL, said: "Whilst genome wide scans have now identified
more than twenty genes involved in risk of type 2 diabetes their
benefit for risk prediction is challenging.
"That absolutely doesn’t mean, however, that finding out which
genes are linked to diseases is fruitless. These genetic clues
could lead to major breakthroughs in understanding, preventing,
treating and even curing these widespread diseases in the
future.”
Professor Peter Weissberg,
Medical Director of the BHF said: "For the time being I don’t
believe that purchasing genetic tests to predict your
susceptibility to type 2 diabetes or heart disease is a good
investment, and the BHF does not
endorse the use of genetic home screening tests.
"The implications of the results of such
genetic tests are still unknown, even to medical experts.
'Conventional' risk factors such as obesity, smoking, cholesterol
and blood sugar levels remain the cornerstone of risk
prediction, and can be measured during a trip to the
GP.
"The most important message to people is to moderate their diet,
maintain a good exercise programme and to avoid becoming
overweight, and if they are overweight to lose weight slowly and
steadily as this will reduce their risk, both of type 2 diabetes,
and of heart and circulatory disease."
For more information please call the BHF press office on
020 7554 0164 or 07764 290 381 (out of office hours) or email
newsdesk@bhf.org.uk
The research article: Utility of genetic and
non-genetic risk factors in prediction of type 2 diabetes:
Whitehall II prospective cohort study. Philippa J Talmud et
al.
http://www.bmj.com/cgi/content/full/340/jan14_1/b4838
(1) Cambridge type 2 diabetes risk
score (age, sex, drug treatment, family history of
type 2 diabetes, body mass index, smoking status) and the
Framingham offspring study type 2 diabetes risk
score (age, sex, parental history of type 2 diabetes,
body mass index, high density lipoprotein cholesterol,
triglycerides, fasting glucose)
(2) Statistics from
Diabetes UK
This research was co-funded by
the Medical Research Council
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