Attitudes, Perceptions, and Use of Cancer-based Genetic Testing Among Healthy U.S. Adults and Those With Prostate or Breast/Ovarian Cancer.

INTRODUCTION

Differences in public awareness and uptake of genetic testing among patients with inheritable cancers are not well understood. The purpose of this study is to examine self-reported rates of undergoing cancer-specific genetic testing in patients with breast/ovarian cancer vs prostate cancer from a nationally representative sample of U.S.

PATIENTS: Secondary objectives include examining sources of genetic testing information and perceptions of genetic testing for both patient populations as well as the general public.

METHODS

Data from the National Cancer Institute's Health Information National Trends Survey 5, Cycle 4 were used to generate nationally representative estimates of adults living in the U.S. Our exposure of interest was patient reported cancer history categorized as having: (1) either breast or ovarian cancer, (2) prostate cancer, or (3) no history of cancer. χ2 testing was used to compare differences among categorical variables.

RESULTS

In a nationally representative sample of 231.7 million adults, 3.7 million adults reported a history of breast/ovarian cancer while 1.5 million patients reported a history of prostate cancer; 52.3% of patients with breast/ovarian cancer vs 1.0% with prostate cancer reported undergoing cancer-specific genetic testing (P = .001). Patients with prostate cancer were less aware of cancer-specific genetic testing than either individuals with breast/ovarian cancer or adults without a cancer history (19.7% vs 64.7% vs 35.8%, respectively; P = .003). Health care professionals were the most common source of genetic testing information for patients with breast/ovarian cancer whereas the Internet was the most common source for patients with prostate cancer.

CONCLUSIONS

Our results suggest a lack of awareness and limited utilization of genetic testing among patients with prostate cancer relative to breast/ovarian cancer. Patients with prostate cancer cite the Internet and social media as sources of information, which may be an avenue for more optimal dissemination of evidence-based information.