Prevalence and correlates of receiving and sharing high-penetrance cancer genetic test results: findings from the Health Information National Trends Survey.

BACKGROUND/AIMS: The aim of this study was to explore the prevalence and correlates of receiving and sharing high-penetrance cancer genetic test results.

METHODS

Participants completed the population-based, cross-sectional 2013 Health Information National Trends Survey. We examined sociodemographic characteristics of participants reporting having had BRCA1/2 or Lynch syndrome genetic testing, and sociodemographic and psychosocial correlates of sharing test results with health professionals and family members.

RESULTS

Participants who underwent BRCA1/2 or Lynch syndrome genetic testing (n = 77; 2.42% of respondents) were more likely to be female and to have a family or personal history of cancer than those not undergoing testing. Approximately three-quarters of participants shared results with health professionals and three-quarters with their family; only 4% did not share results with anyone. Participants who shared results with health professionals reported greater optimism, self-efficacy for health management, and trust in information from their doctors. Participants who shared results with their family were more likely to be female and to have a personal history of cancer, and had greater self-efficacy for health management, perceived less ambiguity in cancer prevention recommendations, and lower cancer prevention fatalism.

CONCLUSIONS

We identified several novel psychosocial correlates of sharing genetic information. Health professionals may use this information to identify patients less likely to share information with at-risk family members.