The DiscovEHR collaboration between the Regeneron Genetics Center and Geisinger Health System couples high-throughput sequencing to an integrated health care system using longitudinal electronic health records (EHRs). We sequenced the exomes of 50,726 adult participants in the DiscovEHR study to identify ~4.2 million rare single-nucleotide variants and insertion/deletion events, of which ~176,000 are predicted to result in a loss of gene function. Linking these data to EHR-derived clinical phenotypes, we find clinical associations supporting therapeutic targets, including genes encoding drug targets for lipid lowering, and identify previously unidentified rare alleles associated with lipid levels and other blood level traits. About 3.5% of individuals harbor deleterious variants in 76 clinically actionable genes. The DiscovEHR data set provides a blueprint for large-scale precision medicine initiatives and genomics-guided therapeutic discovery.
Key Points
Question
Can population-level genomic screening identify those at risk for disease?
Findings
In this cross-sectional study of an unselected population cohort of 50 726 adults who underwent exome sequencing, pathogenic and likely pathogenic
BRCA1
and
BRCA2
variants were found in a higher proportion of patients than was previously reported.
Meaning
Current methods to identify
BRCA1/2
variant carriers may not be sufficient as a screening tool; population genomic screening for hereditary breast and ovarian cancer may better identify patients at high risk and provide an intervention opportunity to reduce mortality and morbidity.
Urology patients are older and more medically complex, especially those with urological cancer than primary care patients. These data may inform care redesign to reduce the treatment burden and improve care coordination in urological cancer cases.
PurposeTo assess the impact of body mass index (BMI) on postoperative recovery curve of urinary and sexual function after robotic-assisted laparoscopic prostatectomy (RALP). We hypothesized that overweight and obese men have different recovery curves than normal weight men.Materials and MethodsWe reviewed preoperative and postoperative surveys from 691 men who underwent RALP from 2004–2014 in an integrated healthcare delivery system. Survey instruments included: sexual health inventory for men (SHIM), urinary behavior, leakage, and incontinence impact questionnaire (IIQ). A repeated measures analysis with autoregressive covariance structure was employed with linear splines with 2 knots for the time factor. We fit unadjusted and adjusted models and stratified by BMI (under/normal weight, overweight, and obese). Adjusted models included age, race/ethnicity, smoking status, diabetes, operation length, prostate-specific antigen, pathologic stage, nerve-sparing status, and surgery year.ResultsMean age was 59 years. Most men were overweight (43%) and obese (42%). There were no significant differences in mean baseline SHIM, urinary behavior, leakage, and IIQ scores by BMI category. All groups had initial steep declines in urinary and sexual function in the first 3 months after RALP. There were no significant differences in postoperative urinary and sexual function score curves by BMI category.ConclusionsThe pattern of urinary and sexual function recovery was similar across all BMI categories. Overweight and obese men may be counseled that urinary and sexual function recovery curves after surgery is similar to that of normal weight men.
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