Genetic Screening Services Provided in Turkey

ERDEM Y., TEKŞEN A. F.

JOURNAL OF GENETIC COUNSELING, cilt.22, sa.6, ss.858-864, 2013 (SCI-Expanded) identifier identifier identifier

  • Yayın Türü: Makale / Tam Makale
  • Cilt numarası: 22 Sayı: 6
  • Basım Tarihi: 2013
  • Doi Numarası: 10.1007/s10897-013-9644-9
  • Dergi Adı: JOURNAL OF GENETIC COUNSELING
  • Derginin Tarandığı İndeksler: Science Citation Index Expanded (SCI-EXPANDED), Scopus
  • Sayfa Sayıları: ss.858-864
  • Anahtar Kelimeler: Genetic screeningprograms, Genetic counseling, Congenital anomalies, Autosomal reccesive diseases, Consanguineous marriages, BREAST-CANCER RISK, NEURAL-TUBE DEFECTS, WOMEN, AGE
  • Ankara Üniversitesi Adresli: Evet

Özet

In Turkey, the rate of consanguineous marriage is quite high (22-24 %) and as a result, the incidence of autosomal recessive diseases and congenital anomalies is also very high and gives rise to a serious public health problem. In the last three decades, great effort has been made to avoid increases in the prevalence of these hereditary diseases. For this purpose, population-based premarital, prenatal, neonatal and adult genetic screening programs are performed in various centers such as Community Health Centers, Early Diagnosis of Cancer and Education Centers (KETEM), Prenatal and Neonatal Departments of Universities and State Hospitals and Thalessemia Screening Centers. Such centers are staffed by health professionals including physicians, family physicians, nurses, midwives, biologists and medical geneticists. Genetic counseling is also provided to patients attending these centers after screening tests are performed. Since there are no specialized training programs for genetic counselors, genetic counseling is generally provided by doctors or medical geneticists. The aim of this paper is to give an overview of the genetic screening services provided in Turkey, the prevalence of genetic diseases and the design of intensive educational programs for health professionals.