Welcome to our Friday FOCUS on Pharmacogenetics
Each Friday we will post new and relevant information regarding Pharmacogenetics. We hope you will find this useful and pass along to colleagues. If you should have any questions regarding pharmacogenetics, please feel free to reach out to us at PGx Medical, info@pgxmed.com or 405-509-5112.
Cardiovascular Disease and Pharmacogenetics
Elevated blood pressure is on the rise around the world, with an increasing impact on mortality, according to a large international study.
Pharmacogenetics can help identify genetic markers of antihypertensive drug responses and can assist in individualization of hypertension treatment.
In October 2016 the American Heart Association released a Scientific Statement on
Enhancing Literacy in Cardiovascular Genetics
Advances in genomics are enhancing our understanding of the genetic basis of cardiovascular diseases, both congenital and acquired, and stroke. These advances include finding genes that cause or increase the risk for childhood and adult-onset diseases, finding genes that influence how patients respond to medications, and the development of genetics-guided therapies for diseases. However, the ability of cardiovascular and stroke clinicians to fully understand and apply this knowledge to the care of their patients has lagged. This statement addresses what the specialist caring for patients with cardiovascular diseases and stroke should know about genetics; how they can gain this knowledge; how they can keep up-to-date with advances in genetics, genomics, and pharmacogenetics; and how they can apply this knowledge to improve the care of patients and families with cardiovascular diseases and stroke.
This is an exciting time in the field of medicine, when the application of genetics and genomics-driven diagnostics, prognostics, and therapeutics is seeing a rapid growth. The federal investment in the Precision Medicine Initiative has energized the field of genomic applications in health care. The applications to cardiovascular diseases and stroke are expected to see similar growth, and the cardiovascular clinician needs to be well informed about this burgeoning field and how to effectively apply it to the care of their patients. This statement provides the current and future state of knowledge in which the clinician needs to be proficient, the public resources available to the clinician to stay abreast of this knowledge, recommendations for increasing genetic awareness and edu- cation among practicing clinicians, and the importance of close collaboration with genetics specialists. Societies such as the American Heart Association should invest in educational tools and resources to increase genetics awareness and knowledge through continuing medical education.
The eventual goal is to empower and enable the cardiovascular clinician to understand, interpret, and apply genetic information to patient care in an effective, responsible, and cost-efficient manner. ~Read entire article at: American Heart Association
Pharmacogenetics can help identify genetic markers of antihypertensive drug responses and can assist in individualization of hypertension treatment. PGx Medical is the trusted and experienced resource for the implementation of pharmacogenetics in the field of aging services.
PGx Medical
Individualized Care – Personalized Medicine
info@pgxmed.com
405-509-5112
Source: Mital S, Musunuru K, Garg V, Russell MW, Lanfear DE, Gupta RM; on behalf of the American Heart Association Council on Functional Genomics and Translational Biology; Council on Cardiovascular Disease in the Young; Council on Cardiovascular and Stroke Nursing; Stroke Council; Council on Lifestyle and Cardiometabolic Health; and Council on Quality of Care and Outcomes Research. Enhancing literacy in cardiovascular genetics: a scientific statement from the American Heart Association [published online ahead of print September 26, 2016]. Circ Cardiovasc Genet. doi: 10.1161/HCG.0000000000000031.