A genetic finding alone says little. Beside 230 measured values it says a lot.

A health check in which the genetic analysis does not stand alone but is interpreted together with laboratory values, imaging, functional diagnostics and family history. The difference from a standalone gene test is substantive, not organisational. A variant in the LDL receptor means something different when your LDL sits at 190 than when it sits at 90. A raised polygenic risk for coronary heart disease means something different when MRI and vascular ultrasound already show plaque. At YEARS the genetic part therefore runs within the Ultimate programme, together with more than 230 biomarkers, whole-body MRI and liquid biopsy on one diagnostic day.

In four steps over roughly six weeks. First the pre-test medical consultation, with the information duty required by German law and family history across three generations, because it determines which findings are relevant. Second the diagnostic day in Berlin-Charlottenburg, around six hours: blood draw for genetics and laboratory, whole-body MRI, ultrasound, ECG, lung function, spiroergometry. Third the analysis, in which sequencing takes days and bioinformatic plus physician curation takes several weeks. Fourth the personal discussion of findings, where genetic results and measured values are interpreted together and a plan for the next twelve months emerges.

In three ways. First scope: consumer tests mostly use an SNP array and check individual predefined positions, whereas here exome and genome sequencing run with interpretation of more than 170 clinically curated risk genes. Second interpretation: a raw result without family history, without laboratory values and without medical assessment is barely usable clinically. Third the legal framework: in Germany a predictive genetic examination may only be ordered by a physician and requires genetic counselling before and after the test. A direct-to-consumer provider does not supply that chain, which is why you receive a file there and not a finding.

Most clearly three groups. People with a family history, meaning cancer, heart attack or dementia in parents or siblings, particularly at a young age of onset. People with findings that lifestyle cannot explain, such as markedly raised lipid values despite a good diet. And people who regularly take several medications, for whom pharmacogenetic interpretation delivers concrete dosing guidance. The genetic part is less useful if you have no baseline diagnostics yet. Anyone who does not yet know their blood pressure, ApoB, Lp(a), HbA1c and has had no imaging gains more from those values than from a genome.

Statutory insurance does not reimburse a preventive genetic health check. Statutory health insurance pays for genetic diagnostics only where there is a concrete medical indication, such as a substantiated suspicion or an existing condition, not as screening without symptoms. Privately insured patients can claim parts depending on their policy, particularly the medical services and individual laboratory items. What applies in your case depends on the policy and is clarified in the intro call rather than promised in general terms. For statutory patients who want to look into supplementary or occupational health cover, we point to our reimbursement page.

No. Your hereditary information does not change, which is why the genetic part is a one-off effort that holds for life. What does change is the interpretation: variant classification is updated continuously, and a variant of uncertain significance can be reassessed years later as pathogenic or benign. We therefore retain the curated data and can reinterpret on relevant reclassification without needing a new sample. The rest of the check-up is a different matter: blood values, imaging and functional diagnostics describe a state and are repeated annually.