In the latest report from PHG Foundation, Implementing polygenic scores for cardiovascular disease into NHS Health Checks, the authors evaluate the NHS Health Check programme as a possible exemplar for the introduction of the routine use of polygenic score analysis.
As population scale research to determine the clinical validity and utility of polygenic scores gets underway, and with the eagerly anticipated review of the NHS Health Check programme looming, this new report is exceptionally timely.
PHG Foundation writes: "Starting from the assumption that polygenic score analysis for NHS Health Checks has proven clinical validity and utility – and this is not yet a given - we set out a framework for how policy makers and health systems might incorporate polygenic scores in this context. After an introduction to genomics and to polygenic scores, and a description of the current NHS Health Check programme, we build on interviews from key experts and stakeholders to demonstrate how CVD polygenic score analysis could be incorporated, and the changes that would be required. The report ends with suggestions for how polygenic scores for CVD could transition beyond NHS Health Checks to deliver more personalised healthcare in future. "
The PHG Foundation is a health policy think-tank and linked exempt charity of the University of Cambridge. We work to achieve better health through the responsible and evidence based application of biomedical science.