Identification of populations likely to benefit from pharmacogenomic testing

Pharmacogenomic testing (PGX) implementation is rapidly expanding, including pre-emptive testing funded by health systems. PGX continues to develop an evidence base that it saves money and improves clinical outcomes. Identifying the potential impact of pre-emptive testing in specific populations may aid in the development of a business case.

We utilized a software tool that can evaluate patient drug lists and identified groups of patients most likely to benefit from implementation of a PGX testing program in a major medical system population.

Medication lists were obtained for sixteen patient groups with a total of 82 613 patients. The percent of patients in each group with testing 'Recommended', 'Strongly recommended', or 'Required' ranged from 12.7% in the outpatient pediatric psychiatry group to 75.7% in the any adult inpatient age >50 years group. Some of the highest yield drugs identified were citalopram, simvastatin, escitalopram, metoprolol, clopidogrel, tramadol, and ondansetron.

We demonstrate a significant number of patients in each group may have benefit, but targeting certain ones for pre-emptive testing may result in the initial highest yield for a health system.