The importance of genetic counselling

You would have definitely come across people who suffer from fatal diseases like cancer, and you promptly recall their parents or grandparents or someone from their family dying because of the same cause.  You also come across a child suffering from a syndrome whose siblings had a similar disease. Our DNA carries the information of our formation.

It has the sequence of nucleotides that codes for our development including our physiology and health. The same pattern of diseases that affect family members in every generation is seen at an alarming rate.

A cause of death in the first generation of someone’s family is repeated in individuals in the next generations. This is called inheritance which is transferred from one generation to the next generation in the form of DNA.

Inheritance is not always negative, but this article is particularly about diseases and health. To predict and analyse the risks of developing such diseases, you need a genetic counsellor and this practice is known as genetic counselling. Genetic counselling is an essential sector of healthcare that correlates the risks and consequences of an individual’s health with its DNA.

A genetic counsellor (GC) is a well-trained individual in human genetics and inheritance biology who counsels individuals with high-risk family histories to predict the predisposition or risks associated with other individuals in a family.

Now the question is about the importance of genetic counselling, of course, any couple with an affected child wouldn’t prefer the same problems with their next one. To analyse the risk for their subsequent pregnancy, it is vital to counsel.

There are two important things to note here, one is it’s not always the inherited family history that creates changes in a normal individual and the second is if you have a family history of a certain disease, it’s not always true that you will surely develop that disease.

It depends on many factors like the pattern of the inheritance, environment, age of conception etc. This probability of developing a disease is calculated by the genetic counsellor.

Of course, a genetic counsellor apart from studying probability and risk analysis of heredity patterns takes care of ethical considerations which include privacy and patient autonomy.

Genetic counselling provides informed decision-making rights to the patients and guides them to the predictions of their analysis. Genetic counselling works in coordination with the whole healthcare community, it is incomplete without clinicians and diagnostics. The risk estimation is based on medical genetic studies and molecular genetics facts.

Who should visit a genetic counsellor?

1.    A woman with late-onset pregnancy >35 years of age, also known as advanced maternal age

2.    .Individuals with a family history of disorders

3.    .A couple with an affected offspring

4.    Recurrent abortions/ Infertility history

5.    consanguinity( marriage within family)

It is recommended that a couple consult a genetic counsellor before planning a pregnancy in order to assess the preconception genetic risks. Genetic counselling is not something that is a taboo or a tantrum of modern society, it is, however, an equally important part of our healthcare to address the safety of life.

Saniya Mehraj Kalla,  M.sc. Human/Medical Genetics Science Communicator and Content Writer