Show Notes
This release contains only the music track from Base by Base Episode 53.
Song title: Worth the Weight of Risk
Original Base by Base episode: 53: Weighing PRS: costs, benefits, and evidence
Article metadata:
Article title: Weighing the evidence on costs and benefits of polygenic risk-based approaches in clinical practice: A systematic review of economic evaluations
Journal: The American Journal of Human Genetics
DOI: 10.1016/j.ajhg.2025.05.012
Reference: Siena LM, Baccolini V, Riccio M, Rosso A, Migliara G, Sciurti A, Isonne C, Iera J, Pierri F, Marzuillo C, DeVito C, La Torre G, Villari P. Weighing the evidence on costs and benefits of polygenic risk-based approaches in clinical practice: A systematic review of economic evaluations. Am J Hum Genet. 2025;112:1735–1753. doi:10.1016/j.ajhg.2025.05.012.
Lyrics:
Verse 1
We stack the numbers on a midnight screen,
A thousand tiny signals in between.
If risk can point us where to start,
Can it save a system—and a heart?
Pre-Chorus
But models live in perfect air,
While real life moves in worn-out care.
What’s the price of making change,
And who gets seen inside the range?
Chorus
Is it worth the weight of risk,
Turning genes into a checklist?
If we screen a little smarter, not just more,
Can we hold the line and open every door?
Count the days, count the cost—count the people we might miss,
Tell me, is it worth the weight of risk?
Verse 2
They ran the paths through Markov loops,
Microsim worlds with paper troops.
The trend looks bright, most clear when hearts are on the line,
But the bill for building it is left behind.
Bridge
Don’t leave the hidden costs off the page,
The time, the training, the friction, the wait.
Don’t let the data draw a border in the light,
If some are undercounted, it won’t be right.
So pilot, learn, then scale with care—
Make the promise real, make it fair.
Final Chorus
Yeah, it’s worth the weight of risk,
When we turn genes into a roadmap.
Screen a little smarter, not just more,
Bring the future down these hospital halls once more.
Count the days, count the cost—count the people we won’t miss,
If we build it with the world in mind, it’s worth the weight of risk.
