Table 3. Comparison of guidelines on returning SFs in clinical setting.
Category | US | Canada | UK | Australia | Denmark | Germany | EU |
Abbreviation: ACA=analytic validity, clinical significance, and actionability; SFs=secondary findings; All-or-none policy=patients could choose to receive all SFs or none of them; UK=the United Kingdom; US=the United States. | |||||||
General attitude | |||||||
Positive attitude | √ | ||||||
Negative attitude | √ | √ | √ | √ | √ | ||
Minimization of SFs | √ | ||||||
No Harm principle | √ | ||||||
For adults | |||||||
ACA criteria | √ | ||||||
Partial ACA criteria | √ | ||||||
Informed consent | √ | √ | |||||
Right to know | √ | √ | |||||
Right not to know | √ | √ | √ | √ | |||
All-or-none policy | √ | ||||||
For clinicians | |||||||
Must-return regardless of preference | √ | ||||||
Obligation to disclose | √ | ||||||
No obligation to disclose | √ | ||||||
Right to search | √ | ||||||
No obligation to search | √ | ||||||
Case-by-case determination | √ | ||||||
Decision by physicians | √ | √ | |||||
For children | |||||||
Specific guidelines for children | √ | ||||||
Policy for children same as for adults | √ | ||||||
For genomic data | |||||||
Data protection | √ | √ | |||||
Confidentiality | √ | √ |