Individuals who are more susceptible to disease in the future can be offered lifestyle advice or medication with the aim of preventing the predicted illness.
Association and correlation studies have found that a female individual with a mutation in the BRCA1 gene has a 65% cumulative risk of breast cancer.
Genetic variants in the Factor V gene is associated with an increased tendency to form blood clots, such as deep vein thrombosis (DVTs).
Unlike many preventive interventions that are directed at groups (e.g., immunization programs), predictive medicine is conducted on an individualized basis.
Predictive medicine is expected to be most effective when applied to polygenic multifactorial disease that are prevalent in industrialized countries, such as diabetes mellitus, hypertension, and myocardial infarction.
Benefits of DTC testing include this accessibility, privacy of genetic information, and promotion of proactive health care.
Risks of obtaining DTC testing are the lack of governmental regulation and the interpreting of genetic information without professional counseling.
In contrast, several populations-based prevention measures (such as encouraging healthy diets or banning tobacco advertising) carry a far lower likelihood of adverse effects and are also less expensive.
[10] However, adequate individual counseling can be difficult to employ to the potentially large proportion of the population likely to be identified as at high risk of common complex disease.
Some people are vulnerable to adverse psychological reactions to genetic predictions of stigmatized or feared conditions, such as cancer or mental illness.
[11] There is a delicate balance that presides over predictive medicine and occupational health: if an employee were dismissed because he was found to be at risk of a certain chemical agent used in his workplace, would his termination be considered discrimination or an act of prevention?