Experiences From an Extension Program: Awareness of the Population About the Importance and Use of Pharmacogenetics

Abstract

The term "pharmacogenetics" indicates the existence of variations in the DNA sequence that may influence the way our body responds to drugs, both in terms of therapeutic efficacy and the occurrence of adverse drug reactions. Although very well established and applied internationally, the use of pharmacogenetics is not yet a reality in Brazil, especially in SUS. The general objective of this work was to produce an informative pamphlet on pharmacogenetics and apply this pamphlet to the population attending the USP campus in Ribeirão Preto, and to provide freely to patients a genetic test determining *2 and *3 alleles for CYP2C9 enzyme, which is the subject of the pamphlet. The present extension project was done in parallel to a clinical research whose data will be submitted to scientific journals and will not be reproduced here. Participants received general information on pharmacogenetics orally, then read the pamphlet and evaluated it through a questionnaire. This study showed that with the use of simple materials and method, it is possible to bring pharmacogenetics to lay people, and this may be an important approach to stimulate the use of this information by health professionals.