Pharmacogenetic Testing Supports Clinical Medication Decision-Making and Prevents ADRs

Adverse drug reactions (ADR) consume healthcare resources, incur costs and harm patients. The prevalence rate of ADR-related admissions to EDs or inpatient wards is approx. 8%. Emergency departments may treat more patients with life-threatening ADRs than patients seriously injured in traffic accidents.^{1, 2, 5}

According to a large European study, pharmacogenetic testing reduces the number of clinically significant ADRs by 30%.³ The study included approximately 7,000 patients treated in hospitals or health centers across seven European countries. The study demonstrates that pharmacogenetic testing is feasible in various European healthcare systems and provides strong evidence of the benefits of pharmacogenetic testing in preventing medication side effects. Pharmacogenetics not only affects the risk of ADRs but also influences treatment efficacy, which was not examined in this study, so the overall benefit of testing may be even greater than indicated by the research.^4,