Awareness of breast cancer genetics and interest in predictive genetic testing: a survey of a southern Italian population

Abstract

Background: Before starting a molecular screening program for breast cancer risk and in order to develop ad hoc educational strategies, a population survey in Apulia, Italy, was performed to gather information on women's awareness of breast cancer genetics and their attitude toward genetic testing for breast cancer risk. Patients and methods: A consecutive series of 677 healthy women with or without a family history of breast cancer, who attended the outpatient clinics of Lega Italiana per la Lotta contro i Tumori in Bari, Italy, for preventive visits, were asked to complete a 20-item questionnaire on socio-demographics, risk perception, psychological characteristics and interest in genetic testing for breast cancer predisposing genes. Results: Most women (77%) reported knowing something about the genetics of breast cancer; only 7% of the women were not interested at all in genetic testing. These figures were not significantly different for women with or without a family history of breast cancer. The two most frequently cited reasons for being interested in genetic testing, accounting for more than 50% of collected responses, were 'to learn about your children's risk' and 'to help advance research'. On multiple logistic regression analysis, only older age [odds ratio (OR) 1.9; 95% confidence interval (CI) 1.3-2.9] was associated with women's knowledge of genetic testing. Moreover, marital status (OR 4.0; 95% CI 1.1-14.6) and thinking of cancer (OR 2.2; 95% CI 1.0 -4.7) independently predicted the interest in having genetic testing. Conclusions: Southern Italian women seem highly interested in genetic testing for breast cancer risk. However, their expectations mainly regard their concerns about their children or their altruistic need to help research rather than the idea of a direct clinical benefit. The great interest of the women in genetic testing probably reflects their inappropriate knowledge of the information that genetic testing can provide for breast cancer risk analysis.

Saudi Women's Interest in Breast Cancer Gene Testing: Possible Influence of Awareness, Perceived Risk and Socio-demographic Factors

“…-Two closed ended questions were employed to assess the woman's personal perceived risk for the development of BC compared to a woman of the same age Bruno et al, 2004). One question with yes/no option regarding ever heard/read about BC genes and their role in BC development was added and the sources of their information.…”

“…-Knowledge about BC genes and their risk in BC development and attitude toward BC genes screening: The knowledge part composed of seven closed ended questions with three options (true, false and I do not know), adopted form the available literature (Lerman et al, 1996;Lerman et al, 1997;Bruno et al, 2004). Correct responses were given one point each while incorrect and do not know responses were given nil.…”

“…However, this awareness varies by socio-demographics, family history, access to information through the health care system (Meischke et al, 2001;Benjamin-Garner et al, 2002;Wideroff et al, 2003;Vadaparampil et al, 2006) and the perceived personal risk (Bottorff et al, 2002;Bruno et al, 2004). Also, individual's decision regarding whether or not to seek clinical cancer genetic services may also be influenced by knowledge, cognitions, emotions, family communication, and socio-demographic and clinical characteristics (Bottorff, 2002;Kinney et al 2006;Ropk et al, 2006).…”

“…The results of the current study showed that the interest in BC testing was significantly associated with presence family history of BC, higher level of awareness about BC genes and the perceived higher risk for the development of BC as revealed by univariate analysis; only perceived risk, awareness level and age were remained to be positively correlated to women's interest in the regression analysis model. In Italy, Bruno et al (2004), have found that being married and the presence of psychological distress were significantly associated with a higher interest while family history of BC was found to have no significant impact. Others found that interest in testing was inversely associated with a family history of BC and increasing age (Armstrong et al, 2000).…”

“…The association between family history of BC and interest in genetic testing are equivocal. Some researchers have reported that interest in genetic testing is higher among those with a family history of BC (Kash et al, 2000;Bruno et al, 2004), others have reported lower levels of interest in individuals with a family history (Andrykowski et al, 1997), and yet others have found no association between interest in genetic testing and a family history of breast or ovarian cancer (Donovan & Tucker, 2000;Bottorff et al, 2002). Bottorf et al (2002) found that, after controlling for other factors, women with a family history of breast/ovarian cancer were not more likely to express interest in genetic testing than those without.…”