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Editorial
April 2018

Reducing Racial/Ethnic Disparities in Cardiovascular Genetic Testing

Author Affiliations
  • 1Center for Genetic Medicine, Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine, Chicago, Illinois
  • 2Associate Editor, JAMA Cardiology
JAMA Cardiol. 2018;3(4):277-279. doi:10.1001/jamacardio.2017.5382

Genetic testing is a diagnostic tool for cardiomyopathies, arrhythmias, aortopathies, lipid disorders, and cardiac sudden death.1,2 Genetic testing sequences panels of genes, and when pathogenic variants are identified, this yields prognostic information. These results also provide a specific means for relatives to determine their risk by undergoing testing for familial mutations. Genetic testing is now more widely available because of the expansion of commercial and academic sites that provide gene panel testing and technical advances in DNA sequencing that have reduced associated costs. In addition, most third-party payers, including the government, no longer exclude coverage for most genetic testing as part of medical care, making testing more readily accessible.

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