Generation V of V · Family

Genetic test results and your family

A genetic test result can matter to the people you are related to as well as to you: healthdirect says results can affect your health choices and some decisions your family might make. It suggests thinking through, before the test, what a result would mean for you and your family.

General information, not medical advice. Call Triple Zero (000) in an emergency, or go to the emergency department of your nearest hospital. The official consumer page to check is healthdirect’s page on genetic testing.

Shared genes

Why a result reaches relatives

healthdirect says your genes carry information that can set your physical traits, your characteristics and your general health. The federal health department describes genetics as the study of how genes work and pass information from parents to their children, and says it can shed light on the risk of inheriting a genetic disease.

Drawn for this guide: one person’s result, filled in green, sits among parents and siblings. It shows no real family.

That shared inheritance is why a result can say something about other people. Privacy law reflects this: the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner (OAIC) explains that genetic information counts as health information when it is, or could be, predictive of the health of a person or of a genetic relative.

Positive results

What a positive result does and does not mean

Variable genes

healthdirect is careful here: a positive result for a genetic mutation does not always lead to the disease that gene is linked with.

Certain genes

Some genes always cause their linked disease, and healthdirect gives the neurofibromatosis type 1 gene as one example.

healthdirect says results may be hard to understand, and that understanding them is the important part of testing; for that, it says to talk to a doctor or a genetic counsellor.

Carrier results

Carrier results and planning a family

A carrier result looks ahead to children. healthdirect says carrier screening finds out whether you carry a gene that may cause a genetic problem if it passes to your children. The Health Minister’s release explains that a person can be a genetic carrier for a condition while having no symptoms.

NSW Health describes reproductive genetic carrier screening in terms of couples: done before pregnancy or early in pregnancy, it shows a couple how likely they are to have a child with a serious genetic condition. The federal release describes Medicare rebates for couples to learn their combined chance of a child with one of three named conditions.

healthdirect’s list of reasons to consider genetic testing includes you and your partner being related by blood, and it names planning a pregnancy, or a worry that you or a family member carries an inherited condition, among the times to consider a test. Types of genetic test sets out carrier tests in more detail, and Medicare and genetic tests covers the rebates.

Newborn babies

A test at the start of life

Families meet genetic testing at birth too. healthdirect’s list of reasons someone might consider genetic testing includes having a newborn baby, and it notes that a simple blood test can detect some rare genetic conditions. The full list is on healthdirect’s page on genetic testing.

Support

Talking a result through

healthdirect says genetic counsellors can give advice and support if you are considering a test, and that genetic counselling aims to give information and support to people at risk of developing a genetic disease, among others. Genetic counselling explains more.

healthdirect describes the main benefit of a genetic test as knowledge: after it, you can get advice about what your result means. healthdirect says it is best to see your doctor or a genetic counsellor if you are thinking about a test.