Alzheimer's test comfort majority

Tuesday, July 17, 2012 - 09:00 in Health & Medicine

As direct-to-consumer testing for Alzheimer's over the internet rises, so have concerns over how people will handle the results. But the review of 20 years of psychological research has found the majority of people do not develop adverse psychological effects following testing.  Image: dra_schwartz/iStockphoto Genetic testing for Alzheimer’s disease can reduce anxiety for people, regardless of whether the test confirms a risk of developing the disease.Several genetic tests are available for Alzheimer’s disease, both for the general public and for those with a family history of the disease. As direct-to-consumer testing over the internet rises, so have concerns over how people will handle information related to their risk of developing Alzheimer’s disease.But a review of over 20 years of psychological research by a team of Australian researchers from Neuroscience Research Australia, UNSW Medicine, Prince of Wales Hospital, University of Sydney, NSW Health and University of Tasmania, shows that the majority of people...

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