Why, or why not? And if you have, what have you learned and how did it change your health-related behavior?
I did it primarily to find out what my APOE status is. Learned several things that I didn’t expect but probably should have, if I had reckoned with family history. Getting that report was distressing, but really the only regret is that I did not do it much sooner.
I plan to do it sometime in the near future but I have not done it yet because the very limited value I expect to get from it is not worth the hassle and cost of obtaining it. I give more detailed reasons in an article I wrote three years ago about exactly this subject that you might find interesting.
I should mention that I took one of the first commercially available gene tests almost 20 years ago, which offered data on about a dozen well known genetic variants. It proved to be of little use. A big part of the reason is that any variant you you fiind yourself having that is associated with something (e.g. higher or lower risk of disease x) is just one of dozens if not thousands of variants that effect your risk of that disease. Maybe this one variant is associated with higher risk of disease x, but you have dozens of other less known variants that are associated with lower risk of disease x and overall, all your genome considered, you actually have lower risk of disease x, something you would miss if you focus on the single variant.
Yes it is true that often there are many gene variants that lead to expression of a disease. The tool I used, Promethease, shows all the variants and the relative “magnitude” of that variant’s strength as an influencer of the expression. For example: Alzheimers – it shows APOE but also PSEN 1 and 2 and a few others, and a picture (pie chart) of your overall risk based on a weighted (by magnitude) of all of the contributing genes. You can filter the database of your raw genetic material by gene, disease and other parameters. I suspect that there are other engines that let you do this as well, but I am familiar only with Promethease. Also, the top level summary is organized to show you your greatest risks at the top of the report.
The report opened the door to my getting approved for tests imaging and meds that I would not otherwise have been able to get insurance to cover. For me personally, besides the basics of nutrition, exercise and sleep, getting the genetic profile is the most important “longevity” intervention I have personally done. And now that recent research says that genetics controls over 50% of your “outcome,”(not about 20% as was previously believed), . . . .
That’s great to hear. I hadn’t heard of people being able to use gene test results for getting approval for tests or getting insurance, but I guess, if you have a doctor that is proactive, that’s certainly a possibility.