Genetic testing

[fr0sty]

Does anyone here have experince with genetic testing? I am adopted and do not have access to any of my biological familiy's medical history. I would like to get a "full" scan to see what types of disease I may be predisposed to.

I did some google searching and came up with this site. http://www.familytreedna.com/ (test my genes) I'm not certain that getting screened will be of any practical use.

Thoughts?

[paradigm9]

that's actually a really interesting question. while not having your medical history isnt going to kill you, it is information that can help in a lot of situations. mainly if you choose to have children....

i would say dont bother unless your spouse has known predispositions to genetic diseases and you want to have kids. chances are your DNA is fine....predisposition scanning isnt exactly here yet, except for specific and serious genetic abnormalities.

i think it would be better to track your biological mother's medical records, which should be possible, but probably isnt.

[fr0sty]

Thanks for the reply. I have reproduced twice and both are doing well. The reason I'm interested is my own personal health. Everytime I visit the doc she asks if I have any medical history of X. I never have an answer.

I do have the ability to persue a medical history. It's known how accurate or complete it will be.

[travc]

This is a very interesting thing.... I have never thought about it.

Adopted children (even if they are no longer children) do have a real interest (not just curiosity) in their biological family history. I can't believe I haven't thought of this before... Thanks for sharing.

[msboyd]

Also adopted and have no real medical history, but my blood type does not match my perceived ethnicity, so I looked into doing one of these.

Unfortunately, if you're female, many of the tests aren't for you, and the companies I've emailed will only pinpoint what continents your ancestors came from, not even a region within said continent.

If you do find one that offers more specific information, I'd be very interested to hear about it!

[fr0sty]

I'll have to ask my Doc the next time I vist. She should know what options there are.

[travc]

Unfortunately, if you're female, many of the tests aren't for you, and the companies I've emailed will only pinpoint what continents your ancestors came from, not even a region within said continent.

The data just isn't good enough to do any better, sorry. Actually, this is a big problem with DNA fingerprinting, since we don't really have a good estimate of the baseline frequencies of different markers in various populations, we can't say with much confidence what the probability of a false match really is (though it has gotten much better in recent years).

If you really pushed, you might be able to get better resolution if you are of African descent. The variance within Africa for most markers is larger than between other populations.