{"id":1813,"date":"2023-01-07T00:14:22","date_gmt":"2023-01-07T00:14:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.bmj.com\/jmg\/?p=1813"},"modified":"2026-02-23T00:22:40","modified_gmt":"2026-02-23T00:22:40","slug":"reporting-clinically-relevant-genetic-variants-unrelated-to-genomic-test-requests-a-survey-of-australian-clinical-laboratory-policies-and-practices","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.bmj.com\/jmg\/2023\/01\/07\/reporting-clinically-relevant-genetic-variants-unrelated-to-genomic-test-requests-a-survey-of-australian-clinical-laboratory-policies-and-practices\/","title":{"rendered":"Reporting clinically relevant genetic variants unrelated to genomic test requests: a survey of Australian clinical laboratory policies and practices (Contributed by Emma Tudini)"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>A genetic test can identify genetic change(s) not related to the initial reason for doing the test. Internationally, there are differences in how these findings are managed. Survey responses from Australian testing laboratories found that they used several different terms to describe the findings, and had different reasons guiding their decision of whether to report them. Further, no laboratories actively searched for genetic changes in medically actionable genes. This leads to inequity for patients, and therefore a need for policy guidance. We provide recommendations for Australian laboratory policies, which may be adapted to other jurisdictions experiencing similar issues. (<a href=\"https:\/\/jmg.bmj.com\/content\/early\/2023\/01\/05\/jmg-2022-108808\">https:\/\/jmg.bmj.com\/content\/early\/2023\/01\/05\/jmg-2022-108808<\/a> )<!--TrendMD v2.4.8--><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>A genetic test can identify genetic change(s) not related to the initial reason for doing the test. Internationally, there are differences in how these findings are managed. Survey responses from Australian testing laboratories found that they used several different terms to describe the findings, and had different reasons guiding their decision of whether to report [&#8230;]<\/p>\n<p><a class=\"btn btn-secondary understrap-read-more-link\" href=\"https:\/\/blogs.bmj.com\/jmg\/2023\/01\/07\/reporting-clinically-relevant-genetic-variants-unrelated-to-genomic-test-requests-a-survey-of-australian-clinical-laboratory-policies-and-practices\/\">Read More&#8230;<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":123,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1813","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.6 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Reporting clinically relevant genetic variants unrelated to genomic test requests: a survey of Australian clinical laboratory policies and practices (Contributed by Emma Tudini) - JMG Contact blog<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/blogs.bmj.com\/jmg\/2023\/01\/07\/reporting-clinically-relevant-genetic-variants-unrelated-to-genomic-test-requests-a-survey-of-australian-clinical-laboratory-policies-and-practices\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Reporting clinically relevant genetic variants unrelated to genomic test requests: a survey of Australian clinical laboratory policies and practices (Contributed by Emma Tudini) - JMG Contact blog\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"A genetic test can identify genetic change(s) not related to the initial reason for doing the test. Internationally, there are differences in how these findings are managed. Survey responses from Australian testing laboratories found that they used several different terms to describe the findings, and had different reasons guiding their decision of whether to report [...]Read More...\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/blogs.bmj.com\/jmg\/2023\/01\/07\/reporting-clinically-relevant-genetic-variants-unrelated-to-genomic-test-requests-a-survey-of-australian-clinical-laboratory-policies-and-practices\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"JMG Contact blog\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2023-01-07T00:14:22+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2026-02-23T00:22:40+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"hqqu\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@HuiQiQu\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"hqqu\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"1 minute\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.bmj.com\\\/jmg\\\/2023\\\/01\\\/07\\\/reporting-clinically-relevant-genetic-variants-unrelated-to-genomic-test-requests-a-survey-of-australian-clinical-laboratory-policies-and-practices\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.bmj.com\\\/jmg\\\/2023\\\/01\\\/07\\\/reporting-clinically-relevant-genetic-variants-unrelated-to-genomic-test-requests-a-survey-of-australian-clinical-laboratory-policies-and-practices\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"hqqu\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.bmj.com\\\/jmg\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/be0250f8d5b52412c3e7c222dabd591b\"},\"headline\":\"Reporting clinically relevant genetic variants unrelated to genomic test requests: a survey of Australian clinical laboratory policies and practices (Contributed by Emma Tudini)\",\"datePublished\":\"2023-01-07T00:14:22+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2026-02-23T00:22:40+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.bmj.com\\\/jmg\\\/2023\\\/01\\\/07\\\/reporting-clinically-relevant-genetic-variants-unrelated-to-genomic-test-requests-a-survey-of-australian-clinical-laboratory-policies-and-practices\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":130,\"commentCount\":0,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.bmj.com\\\/jmg\\\/#organization\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.bmj.com\\\/jmg\\\/2023\\\/01\\\/07\\\/reporting-clinically-relevant-genetic-variants-unrelated-to-genomic-test-requests-a-survey-of-australian-clinical-laboratory-policies-and-practices\\\/#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.bmj.com\\\/jmg\\\/2023\\\/01\\\/07\\\/reporting-clinically-relevant-genetic-variants-unrelated-to-genomic-test-requests-a-survey-of-australian-clinical-laboratory-policies-and-practices\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.bmj.com\\\/jmg\\\/2023\\\/01\\\/07\\\/reporting-clinically-relevant-genetic-variants-unrelated-to-genomic-test-requests-a-survey-of-australian-clinical-laboratory-policies-and-practices\\\/\",\"name\":\"Reporting clinically relevant genetic variants unrelated to genomic test requests: a survey of Australian clinical laboratory policies and practices (Contributed by Emma Tudini) - 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