By Stephen Beech via SWNS
Wealthy people are at greater risk of cancer than the less well-off, suggests new research.
But people from a poorer background are more genetically susceptible to diabetes and arthritis, say scientists.
Finnish researchers looked at the influence of socio-economic status (SES) on the genetic risk for diseases.
They found that people with lower SES – educational achievement and occupation – have a greater genetic susceptibility to develop diseases such as rheumatoid arthritis, lung cancer, depression, and alcoholism, as well as Type 2 diabetes.
Their findings also suggested that those with a higher SES are more at risk of developing breast, prostate, and other forms of cancer.
Study leader Dr. Fiona Hagenbeek, says that the initial results mean that it is likely that polygenic risk scores – which measure a person’s risk of a particular disease based on genetic information – could be added to screening protocols for several diseases.
Dr. Hagenbeek said: “Understanding that the impact of polygenic scores on disease risk is context-dependent may lead to further stratified screening protocols.
“For example, in the future, screening protocols for breast cancer may be adapted so that females with a high genetic risk and who are highly educated receive earlier or more frequent screening than females with lower genetic risk or less education.”
The research team used genomics, SES, and health data from around 280,000 Finnish people aged 35 to 80 at the start of the study.
They wanted to assess the evidence of gene-environment interaction (GxE) through the differing genetic susceptibility to disease in diverse socio-economic groups.
While previous studies have shown the presence of such a difference in risk, the new research is the first to systematically assess GxE for SES in 19 diseases that are particularly common in high-income countries.
Dr. Hagenbeek, of the Institute for Molecular Medicine Finland (FIMM), University of Helsinki, said: “Most clinical risk prediction models include basic demographic information such as biological sex and age, recognizing that disease incidence differs between males and females, and is age-dependent.
“Acknowledging that such context also matters when incorporating genetic information into healthcare is an important first step.
“But now, we can show that the genetic prediction of disease risk also depends on an individual’s socio-economic background.
“So while our genetic information does not change throughout our lifetime, the impact of genetics on disease risk changes as we age or change our circumstances.“
The researchers hope that the study will be followed up to see whether further differences can be identified when looking at more specific aspects of educational and professional achievement.
Dr. Hagenbeek said that while their current results for profession generally mirror those for education, they do not match completely, indicating that each can provide “unique” information on the impact of socio-economic status and genetics on disease risk.
She added: “Our study focused solely on individuals of European ancestry, and it will also be important in the future to see whether our observations concerning the interplay of socioeconomic status and genetics for disease risk are replicated in people of multiple ancestries in higher and lower-income countries.
“As the overall aim of incorporating genetic information into healthcare is to facilitate personalized medicine, we should not treat genetic information as ‘one size fits all‘.
“Rather, we should investigate and then include the circumstances that modify genetic risk when carrying out disease prediction.“
Dr. Hagenbeek is due to present the findings at the annual conference of the European Society of Human Genetics in Berlin, Germany, on Sunday [June 2].
Conference chair Professor Alexandre Reymond welcomed the findings.
Reymond, of the University of Lausanne, Switzerland, said: “To really move to personalized health it will be essential to gauge both genetic and environmental risks.
“We should commend our Finnish colleagues for their part in spearheading this effort.”
