New Policies Could Enhance Minorities’ Benefit from Precision Medicine

Racial and ethnic groups currently are less likely to benefit from advances in genetics, according to a study published Aug. 8 in Health Affairs. The authors say a multi-pronged strategy involving expanding genetic research, improving genetic literacy, and enhancing access to genetic technologies among minority populations is needed to ensure that adoption of precision medicine does not further widen existing health disparities.

While certain variants may cluster in certain racial or ethnic groups, health disparities are largely the result of non-genetic factors that shape health, including socioeconomic conditions. However, minority groups may lack access to genetic testing and treatments based on these findings due to lower rates of genetic testing and a lack of generalizability of genetic findings to members of minority groups.

"Even if disparities in access to genetic counseling and testing could be overcome, understudied minority communities might still be less likely than whites to benefit from current and emerging genetic technologies," writes a group of authors supported by grants from the National Institutes of Health's Centers for Population Health and Health Disparities.

The group proposes multiple policy changes that can improve access to testing and meaningful results for minorities. These include:

• Minority-focused genetics research - It could improve representation of minority groups in genetic databases and better understanding of the full range of genetic diversity associated with disease risk.

• Community-based participatory research - These approaches could aid minority recruitment efforts and improve the dissemination of genetic information.

"The 'normal' genetic sequence of the BRCA1 and BRCA2 genes was determined based on information about women of European or Ashkenazi descent," writes senior author José Ordovás, Ph.D., from Tufts University (Boston). "The small samples of tumors from minority women available for study, insufficient details about patient and tumor characteristics in the data, and limited follow-up information on minority women continue to limit translation of genetic knowledge into clinical benefits for all individuals. … This situation perpetuates disparities in personalized health care based on genetic information."

Takeaway: Study calls for measures to ensure precision medicine benefits minorities.