Evidence map›Paper›PMID 40332002›Full record

ArticleInternational journal of molecular sciences2025

Medically Actionable Secondary Findings from Whole-Exome Sequencing (WES) Data in a Sample of 3972 Individuals.

Mafalda Melo, Mariana Ribeiro, Paulo Filipe Silva, Susana Valente, Filipe Alves, Margarida Venâncio, Jorge Sequeiros, João Parente Freixo, Diana Antunes, Jorge Oliveira

Abstract read
In one paragraph

Article in International journal of molecular sciences, 2025. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 3 papers.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
3citing papers in PubMed
–field-weighted citation impact
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

3 citing papers in PubMed.

  1. Article
  2. Special Issue "Human Traits and Genomics: An Integrative Perspective".International journal of molecular sciences · 2026
    Article
  3. Review
4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

10 authors.

Mafalda MeloMedical Genetics Unit, Hospital Dona Estefânia, Unidade Local de Saúde de Sao José, 1169-045 Lisbon, Portugal.ORCID 0000-0002-5970-5334
Mariana RibeiroCentre for Predictive and Preventive Genetics, Institute for Molecular and Cell Biology (CGPP-IBMC), 4200-135 Porto, Portugal.ORCID 0009-0006-6515-722X
Paulo Filipe SilvaCentre for Predictive and Preventive Genetics, Institute for Molecular and Cell Biology (CGPP-IBMC), 4200-135 Porto, Portugal.ORCID 0000-0002-4037-8783
Susana ValenteCentre for Predictive and Preventive Genetics, Institute for Molecular and Cell Biology (CGPP-IBMC), 4200-135 Porto, Portugal.ORCID 0009-0001-2219-5887
Filipe AlvesCentre for Predictive and Preventive Genetics, Institute for Molecular and Cell Biology (CGPP-IBMC), 4200-135 Porto, Portugal.ORCID 0009-0009-1202-7298
Margarida VenâncioMedical Genetics Unit, Hospital Dona Estefânia, Unidade Local de Saúde de Sao José, 1169-045 Lisbon, Portugal.ORCID 0000-0002-3291-4638
Jorge SequeirosCentre for Predictive and Preventive Genetics, Institute for Molecular and Cell Biology (CGPP-IBMC), 4200-135 Porto, Portugal.ORCID 0000-0002-9846-1037
João Parente FreixoCentre for Predictive and Preventive Genetics, Institute for Molecular and Cell Biology (CGPP-IBMC), 4200-135 Porto, Portugal.ORCID 0000-0002-8358-6267
Diana AntunesMedical Genetics Unit, Hospital Dona Estefânia, Unidade Local de Saúde de Sao José, 1169-045 Lisbon, Portugal.ORCID 0000-0002-6876-1688
Jorge OliveiraCentre for Predictive and Preventive Genetics, Institute for Molecular and Cell Biology (CGPP-IBMC), 4200-135 Porto, Portugal.ORCID 0000-0003-3924-6385

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

The application of whole-exome sequencing (WES) for diagnostic purposes has the potential to unravel secondary findings unrelated with the primary reason of testing. Some of those might be of high clinical utility and comprise disease-causing variants in genes, related to life-threatening and clinically actionable diseases. Clarifying the allelic frequencies of such variants in specific populations is a crucial step for the large-scale deployment of genomic medicine. We analysed medically relevant variants in the 81 genes from the American College of Medical Genetics and Genomics (ACMG) v3.2 list of actionable loci, using WES data from a diagnostic laboratory cohort of 3972 persons, tentatively resampled to represent the Portuguese population geographic distribution. We identified medically actionable variants in 6.2% of our cohort, distributed across several disease domains: cardiovascular disorders (3.0%), cancer predisposition (2.0%), miscellaneous disorders (1.1%), and metabolic disorders (0.1%). Additionally, we estimated a frequency of heterozygotes for recessive disease alleles of 11.1%. Overall, our results suggest that medically actionable findings can be identified in approximately 6.2% of persons from our population. This is the first study estimating medically actionable findings in Portugal. These results provide valuable insight for patients, healthcare providers, and policymakers involved in advancing genomic medicine at the national and international level.

Indexed as

Exome SequencingAdultAgedCardiovascular DiseasesExomeFemaleGene FrequencyGenetic Predisposition to DiseaseGenetic TestingHumansMaleMiddle AgedNeoplasmsPortugalactionable secondary findingsgenomic medicinewhole-exome sequencing

Identifiers

PMID40332002
PMCPMC12027037

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Registered trials

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Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.