This review found no clear or consistent evidence that genetic risk communication alone either raises motivation or translates into actual change in dietary intake or physical activity to reduce the risk of cardiometabolic disorders in adults .
Genetic risk prediction of chronic conditions including obesity , diabetes and CVD currently has limited predictive power but its potential to engage healthy behaviour change has been of immense research interest .
We aim ed to underst and whether the latter is indeed true by conducting a systematic review and meta- analysis investigating whether genetic risk communication affects motivation and actual behaviour change towards preventative lifestyle modification .
Personalized Genetic Risk Counseling to Motivate Diabetes Prevention
OBJECTIVE To examine whether diabetes genetic risk testing and counseling can improve diabetes prevention behaviors . RESEARCH DESIGN AND METHODS We conducted a r and omized trial of diabetes genetic risk counseling among overweight patients at increased phenotypic risk for type 2 diabetes . Participants were r and omly allocated to genetic testing versus no testing . Genetic risk was calculated by summing 36 single nucleotide polymorphisms associated with type 2 diabetes . Participants in the top and bottom score quartiles received individual genetic counseling before being enrolled with untested control participants in a 12-week , vali date d , diabetes prevention program . Middle-risk quartile participants were not studied further . We examined the effect of this genetic counseling intervention on patient self-reported attitudes , program attendance , and weight loss , separately comparing higher-risk and lower-risk result recipients with control participants . RESULTS The 108 participants enrolled in the diabetes prevention program included 42 participants at higher diabetes genetic risk , 32 at lower diabetes genetic risk , and 34 untested control subjects . Mean age was 57.9 ± 10.6 years , 61 % were men , and average BMI was 34.8 kg/m2 , with no differences among r and omization groups . Participants attended 6.8 ± 4.3 group sessions and lost 8.5 ± 10.1 pounds , with 33 of 108 ( 30.6 % ) losing ≥5 % body weight . There were few statistically significant differences in self-reported motivation , program attendance , or mean weight loss when higher-risk recipients and lower-risk recipients were compared with control subjects ( P > 0.05 for all but one comparison ) . CONCLUSIONS Diabetes genetic risk counseling with currently available variants does not significantly alter self-reported motivation or prevention program adherence for overweight individuals at risk for diabetes
This review found no clear or consistent evidence that genetic risk communication alone either raises motivation or translates into actual change in dietary intake or physical activity to reduce the risk of cardiometabolic disorders in adults .
Genetic risk prediction of chronic conditions including obesity , diabetes and CVD currently has limited predictive power but its potential to engage healthy behaviour change has been of immense research interest .
We aim ed to underst and whether the latter is indeed true by conducting a systematic review and meta- analysis investigating whether genetic risk communication affects motivation and actual behaviour change towards preventative lifestyle modification .