Knowing Your Future Through Your Blood
Sunday, July 22nd, 2018 -- 10:46 AM
(AP) -Would you want to know if you harbor a gene linked to Alzheimer's or another incurable disease? A new poll finds most Americans would.Some 17 percent of Americans already have undergone at least one kind of DNA test, and 52 percent of the remainder say they'd like to, according to the poll from The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research released Thursday. Curiosity about ancestry is the main reason. But large segments of the public also want to know if they're at risk for various medical conditions - even if they can't do anything about it. In fact, 60 percent of people say they'd want to know if they carried a gene associated with a disease that's currently incurable, the AP-NORC poll found.
The question is how they'd handle that information. For most diseases, whether you get sick depends on a mix of genetics, lifestyle and other factors.
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