Imprecise Diagnoses

Genetic tests for potentially fatal heart anomaly can misdiagnose condition in black Americans

Figure 2B. Genetic Variants Associated with Hypertrophic Cardiomyopathy
These high-frequency variants associated with hypertrophic cardiomyopathy are all significantly more common among black Americans than among white Americans.

Genetic testing has greatly improved physicians’ ability to detect potentially lethal heart anomalies among asymptomatic family members of people who suffer cardiac arrest or sudden cardiac death.

But a study led by DBMI research fellow Arjun (Raj) Manrai, published in the Aug. 18 issue of The New England Journal of Medicine, shows that over the last decade these lifesaving tools may have disproportionately misdiagnosed one cardiac condition — hypertrophic cardiomyopathy (HCM) — in black Americans. HCM, which affects one in 500 people, is an often-asymptomatic thickening of the heart muscle that can spark fatal arrhythmias in seemingly healthy young adults.

The notion that genetic tests could misread benign genetic alterations as disease-causing mutations is not entirely new. But this study is believed to be the first one to trace the root of the problem to racially biased methodologies in early studies that defined certain common genetic variants as causes of HCM...

Continue reading press release by Ekaterina Pesheva, Director of Science Communications and Media Relations, Harvard Medical School
Media Coverage
The flip side of personal genomics: When a mutation doesn't spell disease
Nature News
Erika Check Hayden
November 15, 2016
Misdiagnoses: A hidden risk of genetic testing
CNN
Jacqueline Howard
October 31, 2016
Misclassification of Benign Genetic Variants as Pathogenic Points to Need to Diversify Screening Populations, Neurogeneticists Say
Neurology Today
Mark Moran
October 6, 2016
Cautionary Tale Of Genetic Testing: You May Drop Dead! Oops, Never Mind
WBUR
Carey Goldberg
August 18, 2016
Genetic Studies’ Lack of Diversity May Lead to Misdiagnoses, Researchers Say
Wall Street Journal
Amy Dockser Marcus
August 17, 2016
Genetic Tests for a Heart Disorder Mistakenly Find Blacks at Risk
New York Times
Denise Grady
August 17, 2016
Study Of Sudden Cardiac Death Exposes Limits Of Genetic Testing
NPR
Richard Harris
August 17, 2016
Lack of Diversity in Genetic Studies Can Lead to Misdiagnoses
GenomeWeb
Staff reporter
August 17, 2016
CardioBrief: Imprecise Medicine? Genetic Tests Lead to Misdiagnosis
MedPageToday
Larry Husten
August 17, 2016
Genetic Insights About Health Risks Limited By Lack Of Diversity, Study Finds
Kaiser Health News
Zhai Yun Tan
August 17, 2016
Also See
Toward Precision Medicine
Harvard Magazine
Jonathan Shaw
May–June 2015