Cancer-related worry and risk perception in Brazilian individuals seeking genetic counseling for hereditary breast cancer

In Brazil, the population in general has little knowledge about genetic risks, as well as regarding the role and importance of the Cancer Genetic Counseling (CGC). The goal of this study was to evaluate cancer-related worry and cancer risk perception during CGC sessions in Brazilian women at-risk fo...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published inGenetics and molecular biology Vol. 43; no. 2; p. e20190097
Main Authors Palmero, Edenir Inêz, Campacci, Natalia, Schüler-Faccini, Lavinia, Giugliani, Roberto, Rocha, José Claudio Casali da, Vargas, Fernando Regla, Ashton-Prolla, Patricia
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published Brazil Sociedade Brasileira de Genética 01.01.2020
Subjects
BIOCHEMISTRY & MOLECULAR BIOLOGY
cancer risk perception
cancer-related worry
genetic counselling
GENETICS & HEREDITY
Hereditary breast cancer
hereditary cancer
Human and Medical Genetics
genetic counselling
hereditary cancer
Hereditary breast cancer
cancer-related worry
cancer risk perception
Online AccessGet full text

Cover

More Information
Summary:In Brazil, the population in general has little knowledge about genetic risks, as well as regarding the role and importance of the Cancer Genetic Counseling (CGC). The goal of this study was to evaluate cancer-related worry and cancer risk perception during CGC sessions in Brazilian women at-risk for hereditary breast cancer. This study was performed in 264 individuals seeking CGC for hereditary breast cancer. Both cancer-affected and unaffected individuals were included. As results, individuals with and without cancer reported different motivations for seeking CGC and undergoing genetic testing. A correlation was observed between age at the first CGC session and age at which the closest relative was diagnosed with cancer. Multivariate analysis showed that educational level, cancer risk discussion within the family, and number of deaths by cancer among first-degree relatives influenced positively the cancer risk perception. In conclusion, the results of this study indicate that cancer-related worry and cancer risk perception are significant aspects of morbidity in individuals seeking CGC, whether they are cancer-affected or unaffected. CGC has an important role in health education and cancer prevention for its potential of promoting an accurate perception of the risk.
Bibliography:ObjectType-Article-1
SourceType-Scholarly Journals-1
ObjectType-Feature-2
content type line 23
Present address
Jose Claudio Casali da Rocha Pontiffcia Universidade Catolica do Parana, Curitiba, PR, Brasil e Hospital Erasto Gaertner, Curitiba, PR, Brazil.
Edenir Inez Palmero Hospital de Cancer de Barretos, Centro de Pesquisa em Oncologia Molecular, Baretos, SP, Brazil.
Authors Contributions: PAP conceived and the study; EIP, JCCR, FRV conducted the experiments; EIP, NC, PAP, LS-F, JCCR, FRV, RG analyzed the data; PAP, EIP, NC wrote the manuscript. All authors read and approved the final version.
Fernando Regla Vargas Instituto Oswaldo Cruz, Laboratorio de Epidemiologia das Malformagoes Congenitas, Rio de Janeiro, RJ, Brasil e Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro, Departamento de Genetica e Biologia Molecular, Rio de Janeiro, RJ, Brazil.
Conflict of Interest: The authors declare that there is no conflict of interest that could be perceived as prejudicial to the impartiality of the reported research.
ISSN:1415-4757
1678-4685
1678-4685
DOI:10.1590/1678-4685-gmb-2019-0097