A new study has shown that rich people are genetically at higher risk of developing cancer compared to the poor.
The study looked into how SES (socio-economic status) could be related to different diseases.
SES and Cancer Risk
The findings of the study suggest that individuals who may enjoy elevated SES also have a higher genetic risk for having prostate, breast, and other kinds of cancer. The study findings were presented during the European Society of Human Genetics' annual conference in Britain.
In contrast, individuals who were less-affluent had a genetically higher susceptibility to arthritis and diabetes, along with alcoholism, lung cancer, and depression.
Dr. Fiona Hagenbeek, the study's leader from the Institute for Molecular Medicine Finland (FIMM) of the University of Helsinki, noted that the initial findings could lead to polygenic risk scores, which are used for gauging disease risk according to genetics, being added for some disease screening protocols.
Dr. Hagenbeek explained that understanding how polygenic scores affect disease risk depends on context. This could lead to the further stratification of protocols for screening.
For instance, breast cancer screening protocols could be implemented so that women who have higher genetic risk and who are quite highly educated could receive more frequent and earlier screening compared to females who have less education and lower genetic risk.
Integrating Genetic Data Into Healthcare
As part of the study, the researchers pulled health data, SES, and genomics on roughly 280,000 Finns who were 35 to 80 years old.
Earlier studies have revealed that some risk differences were present. This is similar to what the researchers were recently able to find.
However, this study has been touted to be the first to associate 19 diseases that are prevalent in countries with high earnings. Dr. Hagenbeek explained that the majority of prediction models for clinical risk cover basic demographic data that recognized that incidence of disease could differ across men and women and that it could depend on age.
The study leader also noted that recognizing such a context is also important when integrating genetic data into healthcare as a crucial initial step.
Now, the researchers were able to show that disease risk genetic prediction may also depend on the socioeconomic background of an individual.
Though genetic data does not alter across one's lifespan, genetics' impact on disease risk could change depending on age and circumstances.
The researchers noted that further study can be conducted in order to fully grasp the association between disease risk and certain professions. Research must also be conducted in countries with lower incomes.
Dr. Hagenbeek also said that the study mainly focused on participants who had European ancestry. It will also be crucial to examine if their observations and findings could be replicated among individuals with several ancestries across lower and higher income countries.
As the integration of genetic data into healthcare generally aims to foster personalized medicine, genetic data should not be treated as a "one size fits all" concept. Instead, it is important to investigate and cover circumstances that could modify one's genetic risk when it comes to conducting disease predictions.
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