Survey on the knowledge and willingness of genetic counseling and testing in blood relatives of breast cancer patients / 复旦学报（医学版）

Objective To investigate the knowledge and willingness of genetic counseling and testing in blood relatives of breast cancer patients.Methods A total of 922 blood relatives of breast cancer patients finished our questionnaire.Data were devided into different groups according to age,family history of tumor for statistical analysis.Results Most of the respondents were unaware of genetic counseling and genetic testing.However,after a brief introduction,major of them were willing to accept genetic counseling,breast cancer risk evaluation and screening.Specifically,79.8％ of them were willing to accept genetic counseling,and 62.3％ were willing to accept genetic testing.Most of the respondents would accept inexpensive early genetic screening.For the genetic testing with higher prices,only 37.9％ of them would accept it.Supposing a positive genetic testing result,most of them were willing to perform prevention through close follow-upscreening,31.3％ of them would choose prophylactic surgery or drugs.Despite being told the confidentiality of the test results,32.9％ of them worried about the adverse effects of genetic test.Conclusions Most of the blood relatives of breast cancer patients were unaware of counseling and genetic testing,but had apparent willingness to accept them.Misunderstanding of genetic characteristics,costs and concerning about discrimination are obstacles for the respondents to accept genetic counseling,genetic testing and related screening prevention.

Knowledge and willingness of breast cancer patients from Shanghai for genetic counseling and gene testing / 中华医学遗传学杂志

<p><b>OBJECTIVE</b>To investigate the knowledge and willingness of breast cancers patients from Shanghai for genetic counseling and gene testing.</p><p><b>METHODS</b>A total of 428 patients filled out the questionnaire and the data was statistically analyzed.</p><p><b>RESULTS</b>Most of the patients were unaware of genetic counseling and gene testing. But after a brief introduction, a majority of them were willing to accept genetic counseling and recommend their family members to participate. The willingness was education- and age-related. When told that gene testing may benefit themselves, 92.1% of the patients were willing to be tested. However, when told that gene testing may only benefit their family, only 33.9% of the patients were willing to join the testing. The acceptance was also age-, education- and family income-related. The difference was statistically significant. Moreover, the willingness ratio to participate the gene testing was lower than expected. Overall, 74.1% of the patients were willing to accept cheaper preliminary gene screening, whilst only 19.2% were willing to accept genetic testing of higher price. Despite of being told that testing results will be maintained as confidential, still 43.2% worried about adverse effects. Such patients tended to younger, from low-income families, with a family history of associated cancers, or personal history of other cancers. The difference was statistically significant.</p><p><b>CONCLUSION</b>The majorities of patients do not know but are willing to accept genetic counseling and gene testing and recommend their family to participate. Lack of genetic knowledge, cost for the testing and concerns about discrimination are the obstacles for patients to participate in genetic counseling and gene testing. To spread the knowledge about breast cancer and establish a follow-up screening system for high-risk population may improve the tertiary prevention for breast cancer.</p>