Issue: December 2011
December 01, 2011
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Pharmacogenomic testing consent failed to yield selection bias

Issue: December 2011
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A higher percentage of men and those treated at academic medical centers agreed to pharmacogenomic testing in the IDEAL study, but the absolute differences were small, and there were no differences in agreement between patients of different ethnicities, ages or medical comorbidities, according to new findings presented at The Liver Meeting, the 2011 Annual Meeting of the American Association for the Study of Liver Disease.

“This suggests that the decision to consent for pharmacogenomic testing does not introduce selection bias or confound subsequent pharmacogenomic testing subcohort analyses,” according to Alison Jazwinski, MD, of Duke University Medical Center in Durham, N.C., and colleagues.

Jazwinski and colleagues set out to investigate whether certain patients in the IDEAL study were more likely to consent to the pharmacogenomic testing substudy, thereby introducing bias.

The researchers compared predictors of treatment response between the pharmacogenomic testing and non-pharmacogenomic testing groups, as well as the clinical, demographic and center characteristics at all sites with approved pharmacogenomic testing.

Among the 118 sites in the IDEAL study, 109 agreed to participate in the pharmacogenomic testing substudy, and 57% of patients at these sites consented to pharmacogenomic testing.

Results indicated that pharmacogenomic testing consent was more positively associated with treatment in an academic medical center (60%) and in males (58%) vs. treatment in community centers (52%) and in females (54%).

The researchers reported no significant differences in pharmacogenomic testing participation between white (58%) and black (54%) patients (P=.07), and no differences were observed based on age, cigarette use, alcohol abuse, comorbidities or fibrosis stage.

Further, treatment outcomes were similar in both pharmacogenomic testing and non- pharmacogenomic testing groups.

“It is reassuring that there weren’t major subgroups of patients that were not included in the genetic substudies, which may have led to decreased applicability of the results of the studies. The patients who participated in the genetic substudies are representative of the IDEAL population as a whole,” Jazwinski told Infectious Disease News. – by Ashley DeNyse

For more information:

  • Jazwinski A. #393. Presented at: 2011 AASLD Annual Meeting; Nov. 3-8, 2011; San Francisco.

Disclosure: Dr. Jazwinski reports no relevant financial disclosures.

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