Short-term psychological impact of the BRCA1/2 test result in women with breast cancer according to their perceived probability of genetic predisposition to cancer

Background: The effect of BRCA1/2 gene test result on anxiety, depression, cancer-related thought intrusion or avoidance and perceived control over cancer risk was assessed in breast cancer (BC) patients, according to their perceived probability of genetic predisposition to cancer. Methods: Two hund...

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Published inBritish journal of cancer Vol. 108; no. 5; pp. 1012 - 1020
Main Authors Brédart, A, Kop, J L, DePauw, A, Caron, O, Sultan, S, Leblond, D, Fajac, A, Buecher, B, Gauthier-Villars, M, Noguès, C, Flahault, C, Stoppa-Lyonnet, D, Dolbeault, S
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published London Nature Publishing Group UK 19.03.2013
Nature Publishing Group
Cancer Research UK
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Summary:Background: The effect of BRCA1/2 gene test result on anxiety, depression, cancer-related thought intrusion or avoidance and perceived control over cancer risk was assessed in breast cancer (BC) patients, according to their perceived probability of genetic predisposition to cancer. Methods: Two hundred and forty-three (89% response rate) women with BC completed questionnaires after an initial genetic counselling visit (T1), of which 180 (66%) completed questionnaires again after receiving the BRCA1/2 results (T2). The discrepancy between women’s perceived probability of cancer genetic predisposition at T1 and the geneticist’s computed estimates was assessed. Results: In all, 74% of women received a negative uninformative (NU), 11% a positive BRCA1/2 and 15% an unclassified variant (UV) result. On hierarchical regression analysis, in women with a positive BRCA1/2 result ( vs NU or UV), a lower perceived probability of cancer genetic predisposition than objective estimates at T1 predicted lower levels of anxiety at T2 ( β =−0.28; P <0.01), whereas in women receiving a UV result ( vs NU or positive BRCA1/2 ), a lower perceived probability of cancer genetic predisposition than objective estimates at T1 predicted higher levels of anxiety ( β =0.20; P <0.01), depression ( β =0.19; P <0.05) and intrusion ( β =0.18; P <0.05) at T2. Conclusion: The type of BRCA1/2 test result differently affects distress according to women’s perceived probability of genetic predisposition before testing.
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PMCID: PMC3619058
ISSN:0007-0920
1532-1827
DOI:10.1038/bjc.2012.599