Helsinki: A new study has found that rich people have a higher genetic risk of cancer than the poor.
The study, conducted at the University of Helsinki in Finland, examined the relationship between socioeconomic status (SES) and several diseases.
According to the results of the research, people who have a better socio-economic status have a higher risk of developing breast, prostate and other types of cancer genetically.
On the other hand, experts said that less well-off people are genetically easier targets for diabetes, arthritis, depression, alcoholism and lung cancer.
Dr. Fiona Hagenbeck, who led the study, said preliminary results suggest polygenic risk scores may be incorporated into diagnostic protocols for some diseases. Disease risks based on genetics are measured using these scores.
Dr. Fiona told the media that understanding the impact of polygenic scores on disease risk is context-dependent, which may lead to more sequential screening protocols.
For the study, Dr. Fiona and her team collected genomic, SES and health data on nearly 280,000 people between the ages of 35 and 80.
The study is the first of its kind to look at the association between 19 common diseases in high-income countries.
The results of the research will be presented at the annual conference of the European Society of Human Genetics in Berlin.
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