Study Shows Pharmacogenetics Testing Does Not Improve Treatment Outcomes for Depressive Disorders
Pharmacogenetics testing, the testing for gene variations that could influence a patient’s response to medication, have been commercially available on the health care market for many years, but a new study draws into question whether the testing improves outcomes for those with depressive disorders.
The study, which was led by Jennifer Vande Voort, an associate professor at the Mayo Clinic and published in Journal of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, shows that pharmacogenetics testing does not demonstrate improved outcomes for adolescents with depression compared with those who received treatment without testing.
To conduct the study, researchers enrolled 176 adolescents aged 13-18 who were diagnosed with severe major depressive disorders with one group of 84 participants receiving a guided testing treatment and 92 participants receiving treatment as usual that did not include testing results until an 8-week follow-up visit had been completed.
The researchers observed no statistical difference in improvement between the two cohorts on depression rating scales or side effect scales, but there was a statistically significant difference in prescribing practices for various medication classes between the two cohorts, suggesting that testing results influence physical decision-making.
Despite these findings, there has been a rise in direct-to-consumer demands for genetic testing like pharmacogenetics, and projections from ReportLinker, a company that uses artificial intelligence to develop research reports, estimates that in the next four years this market will reach a $1.9 billion valuation.
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