NEW GENEWATCH UK REPORT (2023): Polygenic risk predictions: health revolution or going round in circles?
Polygenic Risk Scores (PRSs) are a new way of calculating people’s genetic risks of common diseases, such as heart disease, cancers and diabetes.
This report asks whether PRSs will be good for health and considers their implications for society.
Using Polygenic Risk Scores (PRSs) in a population requires that everyone will have their genetic information and medical records stored in a vast database, potentially allowing every individual and their relatives to be identified and tracked.
The report concludes that advocates of this approach have sought to justify this level of surveillance by misleading claims about the future benefits to health.