The new test has great promise, but it also raises many questions.
Some critics argue that the focus on treating young people is misplaced because they may not comply with statins or other drugs for the rest of their lives. It can be difficult for young people to focus on potential threats to their health decades from now, and some of Dr. Rader’s patients, despite being recommended polygenic risk testing, have Some even postpone receiving it.
These critics say the real need lies with the vast elderly group who need cholesterol-lowering treatment but cannot get it or have abandoned prescriptions for it. One study found that about 40 percent of people over the age of 65 will have a heart attack and will need lipid-lowering drugs for the rest of their lives. stop taking statins within two years.
Those like Dr. Rita F. Redberg, a cardiologist at the University of California, San Francisco, editor of JAMA internal medicine, and a critic of statin overuse, say polygenic risk scores pose new problems. I am concerned that it may cause
“There are many downsides to labeling people sick,” she says.
The label “will inexorably lead to testing and the search for a cure,” she added. And, she said, “since the person who is now a ‘patient’ is asymptomatic, more tests and possible treatments often do not make them feel better.” .
People go from thinking they are healthy to thinking that they are sick. “Now every time they experience aches, pains, and aches that are common in everyday life, they wonder if it’s because they have this ‘disease,'” says Dr. Redberg. rice field. “And they may go to the doctor or emergency room for things they weren’t able to see before, which would require more tests and procedures, with an attendant risk of harm.” .”
