title: Psychological adjustment to familial genetic risk assessment: differences in two longitudinal samples.
abstract: Heritable cancer risk assessment is an increasingly common method of deriving valuable information relevant to deciding on appropriate screening regimens and preventive treatments. Assessments of heritable risk typically include familial-genetic evaluation, where analyses relate family pedigree to cancer risk, and DNA testing, where analyses indicate genetic mutations associated with cancer risk (e.g., BRCA1/BRCA2 mutations) or their absence. In this paper we report on the psychological responses of women given familial-genetic evaluations for ovarian cancer risk. The baseline and 6 to 12 follow-up assessments of an initial clinic-attending cohort of 65 women are compared with the baseline and 9 to 12 follow-up assessments of a second clinic-attending cohort of 60 women. Sizeable differences were found in the prevalence of clinically significant depression in these two physician or self-referred populations, as assessed by the Center for Epidemiological Studies Depression scale and in the mean scores. Hypotheses accounting for these differences are discussed.
authors.affiliation: Research Unit, Division of Preventive Oncology, Cancer Care Ontario, Toronto, Canada.
authors.forename: P
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Ritvo
authors.forename: G
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Robinson
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Irvine
authors.forename: L
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Brown
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Matthew
authors.forename: K J
authors.initials: KJ
authors.lastname: Murphy
authors.forename: D S
authors.initials: DS
authors.lastname: Stewart
authors.forename: R
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Styra
authors.forename: C
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Mullen
authors.forename: D
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Cole
authors.forename: B
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Rosen
mesh_terms: D000223:Adaptation, Psychological; D015331:Cohort Studies; D005192:Family Health; D005260:Female; D020022:Genetic Predisposition to Disease / Q000523:psychology*; D005820:Genetic Testing / Q000523:psychology*; D006801:Humans; D008137:Longitudinal Studies; D010051:Ovarian Neoplasms / Q000235:genetics* / Q000523:psychology*