Patients That Had Higher Polygenic Risk Scores Had Very Low Chances Of Responding To Traditional Antipsychotic Treatment

A recent study held in Washington D.C. situated in USA proved that genetics can be helpful while predicting how a patient will react to the treatment done with an antipsychotic drug for schizophrenia. The results by the Feinstein Institute for Medical Research were issued in the American Journal of Psychiatry. A patient suffering from schizophrenia experiences hallucinations, delusions and behavior and thoughts in a disorganized way. Schizophrenia is treated with the antipsychotic drug without any guidance from the lab tests. Doctors prefer choosing the trial and error methods when looking out for treatment options for schizophrenia patients without an idea about the reactions they will receive from then. This methods turns out to be threatening and worrisome for the patients and their patients as well as for the doctors. Professor Todd Lencz and his fellow team mates made use of various genetics tests to come across the result about the patient’s reaction to the medications. The researchers analyzed the single gene with the polygenic risk scores approach. Jian-Ping Zhang, the lead author of the research published said that the polygenic risk scores depicted the plural effect of several thousand of genetic varieties from the entire family of genome, and also helped them to understand the complex nature of the schizophrenia disorder. Researchers analyzed those patients that had higher polygenic risk scores had very low chances of responding to traditional antipsychotic treatment. Finally the doctors came across the results that promoted precision medicine and more scientific methods that also included different approaches to psychiatry.