DNA-based genetic testing is rising steeply in a national health care system wit

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Genet Test. 2005 Spring;9(1):80-4.

DNA-based genetic testing is rising steeply in a national health care

system with open access to services: a survey of genetic test use in

Germany, 1996-2002.

Schmidtke J, Pabst B, Nippert I.

Institute of Human Genetics, Hannover Medical School, 30625 Hannover,

Germany.

The extent to which the fast-growing body of genetic knowledge is

transferred into everyday clinical practice has nowhere been assessed

in a systematic way. Available quantitative analyses of DNA-based

genetic test provision and uptake rates are all concerned with

specific test programs.

The German health-care system is ideally suited for a more general

approach, because it is highly flexible regarding access to services,

thus permitting quick adjustments to sudden changes in particular

subfields of medicine such as genetic testing.

We have measured the amount of genetic service provision in Germany

between 1996 and 2002 by making use of the central database of the

German national health-care system and by inquiring with private

health insurance. We can document a three-fold increase of DNA-based

testing in the time period 1996-2002, whereas cytogenetic analyses

and genetic counseling have remained constant.

The growing body of genetic knowledge does indeed seem to be

transferred into medical practice at an increasing rate, and the

uptake rates are largely in proportion to test offers. DNA-based

testing appears to be focussed on disease-associated germ-line

alterations.