Navigating the Future of Polygenic Risk Scores: Insights from Child and Adolescent Psychiatrists

Polygenic risk scores (PRS) are a method of calculating genetic risk for polygenic, or multi-gene, disorders. These scores have potential impacts in the realm of child and adolescent psychiatry, given the high prevalence of psychiatric disorders among youth. However, there are concerns about PRS implementation among key stakeholders, namely child and adolescent psychiatrists (CAP). We conducted interviews with 29 U.S.-based CAP to investigate clinician attitudes toward the use of PRS. The data herein correspond to a future scenario we provided CAP in which PRS are accurate and portable to patients of different racial and ethnic backgrounds. We found that CAP envisioned some utility for PRS in regards to clinical surveillance and treatment; however, several desired further research demonstrating that PRS positively impact patient outcomes before they would consider implementing PRS in-clinic. The most cited concern about PRS deployment was the potential for misinterpretation and misuse of PRS on the part of patients, families, corporate entities, and clinicians themselves. CAP emphasized the need for support in the form of testing infrastructure, clinical guidelines, and collaboration with the involvement of PRS experts, when considering PRS applications in the future.