It's not hard to understand why these kits are so well-liked given that about 1 in 5 adult Americans has already undergone at-home DNA testing. You receive a kit delivered to your house, swab the inside of your cheek, mail in a sample of your DNA to a DNA testing center, and a few weeks later, you'll learn a lot about your health and family history. It seems like a simple and enjoyable method to gain more self-awareness. Before purchasing a kit for yourself or as a present for friends and family, there are a few things to keep in mind.
Learn more about at-home DNA tests from our Atlanta DNA testing center.
A medical DNA test is more reliable than a DNA test done at home.
A medical DNA test that is ordered by your doctor will provide you with more accurate results than a test kit that you can use at home. There are a few significant distinctions when a doctor requests a DNA test to determine your risk for disease: 1) How the test is administered; and 2) How the findings are examined.
A molecular geneticist examines the outcomes of a medical test. A doctor with expertise in DNA, genetic testing, and hereditary disorders is known as a molecular geneticist.
Your DNA is being examined by the molecular geneticist for a specific medical purpose. According to your medical history, "they're attempting to answer a specific health concern, like are you at risk for breast cancer.
This is how it goes: A genetic test searches for particular modifications to your DNA sequence, sometimes known as mutations or variations. These variations may indicate a higher chance of developing certain diseases. Even so, it's not always a reason for alarm to have some of these varieties. For your health, it might not mean anything at all. To determine what your result means especially for you, a geneticist must examine these mutations in the context of a wide range of other variables.
This implies that they take into account your personal background, health issues, and family history.
On the other hand, at-home tests are less reliable because they don't consider your DNA variants in light of your health or their context. Dr. Vats explains that only a subset of your DNA's sequence is examined. A medical test examines your DNA closely, whereas an at-home test examines it from a bird's eye perspective.
According to the best DNA test Atlanta ga, a medical DNA test can be more specific in what it is checking for and can take into consideration aspects such as your unique family history.
Home DNA tests cannot predict with certainty if you will get an illness.
According to DNA testing experts, home DNA tests are not a reliable approach to determine your illness risk. They only examine a small portion of DNA markers, therefore they can overlook some crucial information.
In addition to that, you shouldn't rely on any medical decisions on the outcomes of an at-home test. But if you have concerns about the results of your at-home test, you can discuss them with your doctor. "A geneticist can request more accurate and precise testing depending on what the marker is," says the statement.
An essential component of genetic testing is the genetic counseling you receive through your physician's office. Without it, it's simple to become perplexed, experience a false sense of security, or develop unwarranted concern. Moreover it's possible that the results have no bearing on your health, but they might have an impact on your children's health. A geneticist can explain to you what the results of the DNA test signify and what you should do about them.
Furthermore many experts are against taking the at-home test if you have concerns about a specific hereditary disease and to speak with a genetics expert instead. They can advise you and arrange for the proper test for you, not just any test like the at-home version.
You can discover your ancestry through DNA testing that you can do at home.
Many Atlanta DNA testing experts advise against using at-home DNA tests to determine your health because of their accuracy problems. But if you'd want, you can utilize them to find out more about your family history, ethnic heritage, and distant relatives.
The ancestry tests you may perform at home using a kit are more accurate than the medical tests. The ancestry DNA test searches for genetic markers that are typical of particular geographic areas and ethnic groups. You might discover, for instance, that you share 10% of the markers with Ashkenazi Jews and 40% of the markers with persons from Eastern Europe.
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