Wealthy persons are genetically at greater risk of cancer than the poor, recent research has revealed.
The brand new study — conducted on the University of Helsinki in Finland — examined the connection between socio-economic status, or SES, and an array of diseases.
Those privileged to enjoy elevated SES, the findings suggested, are also at a heightened genetic risk for breast, prostate and other kinds of cancer.
Conversely, those less-affluent are genetically more prone to diabetes and arthritis, together with depression, alcoholism and lung cancer, the experts said.
Study leader Dr Fiona Hagenbeek, of the university’s Institute for Molecular Medicine Finland (FIMM), said the initial results could lead on to polygenic risk scores — used to measure risk of disease based on genetics — being added to screening protocols for some diseases.
“Understanding that the impact of polygenic scores on disease risk is context-dependent may result in further stratified screening protocols,” Dr. Hagenbeek told South West News Service.
“For instance, in the longer term, screening protocols for breast cancer could also be adapted in order that females with a high genetic risk and who’re highly educated receive earlier or more frequent screening than females with lower genetic risk or less education,” she said.
To conduct the study, Dr. Hagenbeek’s team pulled genomics, SES and health data on about 280,000 Finns, aged 35 to 80.
Previous studies have reportedly shown the presence of some differences in risk, much like what researchers found this time around.
This study, nevertheless, has been touted as the primary to look for the link in a whopping 19 diseases common to high-earning countries.
“Most clinical risk prediction models include basic demographic information resembling biological sex and age, recognizing that disease incidence differs between men and women, and is age-dependent, Dr. Hagenbeek said.
“Acknowledging that such context also matters when incorporating genetic information into healthcare is a crucial first step.
“But now, we are able to show that the genetic prediction of disease risk also is determined by a person’s socio-economic background.
“So while our genetic information doesn’t change throughout our lifetime, the impact of genetics on disease risk changes as we age or change our circumstances,” the doctor said.
Researchers identified that further work may be done to completely understand the links between specific professions and disease risk. Studies must also be conducted in lower-income countries as well, they said.
“Our study focused solely on individuals of European ancestry, and it can even be necessary in the longer term to see whether our observations regarding the interplay of socio-economic status and genetics for disease risk are replicated in people of multiple ancestries in higher and lower-income countries,” Dr. Hagenbeek urged.
“As the general aim of incorporating genetic information into healthcare is to facilitate personalized medicine, we must always not treat genetic information as ‘one size suits all‘.
“Fairly, we must always investigate after which include the circumstances that modify genetic risk when carrying out disease prediction,” she said.
Study findings can be presented on the annual conference of the European Society of Human Genetics in Berlin, Germany, on Sunday.
Conference Chair Professor Alexandre Reymond of the University of Lausanne, Switzerland, welcomed the findings.
“To actually move to personalized health it can be essential to gauge each genetic and environmental risks,” he said.
“We should always commend our Finnish colleagues for his or her part in spearheading this effort.”
