Clinical pharmacogenomics: patient perspectives of pharmacogenomic testing and the incidence of actionable test results in a chronic disease cohort

This study aimed to examine pharmacogenomic test results and patient perspectives at an academic cardiovascular medicine clinic. Patients & methods: Test results for three common cardiovascular drug-gene tests (warfarin-CYP2C9-VKORC1, clopidogrel-CYP2C19 and simvastatin-SLCO1B1) of 208 patients in the Ohio State University-Coriell Personalized Medicine Collaborative were examined to determine the incidence of potentially actionable test results. A post-hoc, anonymous, patient survey was also conducted. Results: Potentially actionable test results for at least one of the three drug-gene tests were determined in 170 (82%) patients. Survey responses (n = 134) suggested that patients generally considered their test results to be important (median of 7.5 on a 10-point scale of importance) and were interested (median of 7.3 on a 10-point scale of interest) in a Clinical Pharmacogenomic Service. Conclusion: Attitudes toward pharmacogenomic testing were generally favorable, and potentially actionable test results were not uncommon in this cardiovascular medicine cohort.