Ethical Principles and Pitfalls of Genetic Testing for Dementia

Abstract

Progress in the genetics of dementing disorders and the availability of clinical tests for practicing physicians increase the need for a better understanding of multifaceted issues associated with genetic testing. The genetics of demen tia is complex, and genetic testing is fraught with many ethical concerns. Genetic testing can be considered for patients with a family history suggestive of a single gene disorder as a cause of dementia. Testing of affected patients should be accompanied by competent genetic counseling that focuses on probabilistic implications for at-risk first- degree relatives. Predictive testing of at-risk asymptomatic patients should be modeled after presymptomatic testing for Huntington's disease. Testing using susceptibility genes has only a limited diagnostic value at present because potential improvement in diagnostic accuracy does not justify potentially negative consequences for first-degree relatives. Predictive testing of unaffected subjects using susceptibility genes is currently not recommended because individual risk cannot be quantified and there are no therapeutic interventions for dementia in presymptomatic patients. ( J Geriatr Psychiatry Neurol 2001; 14:213-221).