Family and friends with disease: their impact on perceived risk.
BACKGROUND
For many common diseases, having a family history is the strongest predictor of lifetime risk. Perceptions of personal risk, important for appropriate prevention efforts, have been found to be exaggerated in healthy individuals with family histories. These findings highlight the contribution of objective and experiential factors to perceived risk. This study examined, across a variety of diseases, whether (1) family history of the disease contributes to perceived risk, (2) history of disease in a friend or nonblood relative, which would not increase one's objective risk, nonetheless increases perceived risk, and (3) these effects are similar across genders.


METHODS
Participants (N = 522; 38% male; 56% Caucasian; mean age = 40 years) completed a brief health survey.


RESULTS
Analyses revealed an effect of having a family history of the disease on perceived risk for breast and colon cancers, heart disease, and diabetes (P < 0.001). Interestingly, having a friend diagnosed with the disease also contributed to perceived risk for breast and colon cancers, as well as heart disease and diabetes among women (P < 0.05), but not among men.


CONCLUSIONS
Results suggest that interventions to alter perceived risk of cancer should account for gender, as women appear to be impacted by who they know.
Montgomery
Guy H
GH
Derald H. Ruttenberg Cancer Center, Mount Sinai School of Medicine, New York, NY 10029, USA. guy.montgomery@mssm.edu
Erblich
Joel
J
DiLorenzo
Terry
T
Bovbjerg
Dana H
DH
D000328:Adult; D001294:Attitude to Health; D001943:Breast Neoplasms; D003110:Colonic Neoplasms; D005192:Family Health; D005260:Female; D033062:Friends; D006331:Heart Diseases; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D010465:Perception; D011471:Prostatic Neoplasms; D012044:Regression Analysis; D012307:Risk Factors; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires