Subjective and objective risk of ovarian cancer in Ashkenazi Jewish women testing for BRCA1/2 mutations.
OBJECTIVE
Ovarian cancer is the leading cause of gynecological death in the United States, and 14% of ovarian cancer cases are attributed to BRCA1/2 hereditary mutations. This study examined (1) change in subjective ovarian cancer risk in response to genetic counseling and testing, (2) accuracy of subjective ovarian cancer risk estimates, and (3) new methods for conceptualizing subjective ovarian cancer risk based on Leventhal's Common Sense Model, in women at increased risk to carry BRCA1/2 mutations.


METHODS
Women (n=78) were asked their subjective risk of ovarian cancer (in terms of a percentage, estimated survival time, and projected age of onset) at pre-counseling, post-counseling, 1 week post-result, and 6 months post-result.


RESULTS
Women with a personal history of breast cancer were most inaccurate at pre- but improved post-counseling. Subjective survival time increased post-counseling. Accuracy of subjective risk improved at post-result for those with uninformative negative results. Subjective percentage risk and subjective survival time decreased at 6 months.


CONCLUSIONS
Subjective risk changed in response to genetic counseling and testing. Common Sense Model-derived assessments of risk may be useful for understanding the impact of genetic counseling and testing.


CONCLUSIONS
Genetic counseling can assist women at risk of carrying BRCA1/2 mutations to understand their risk of ovarian cancer, and genetic testing further refines their risk.
Kelly
Kimberly M
KM
Human Cancer Genetics, The Ohio State University, 646 Medical Research Facility, 420 W. 12th Avenue, Columbus, OH 43210, USA. Kimberly.Kelly@osumc.edu
Senter
Leigha
L
Leventhal
Howard
H
Ozakinci
Gozde
G
Porter
Kyle
K
D001294:Attitude to Health; D005260:Female; D019398:Genes, BRCA1; D024522:Genes, BRCA2; D005817:Genetic Counseling / Q000523:psychology; D005820:Genetic Testing / Q000523:psychology; D006801:Humans; D007585:Jews / Q000235:genetics / Q000523:psychology; D008875:Middle Aged; D008960:Models, Psychological; D015999:Multivariate Analysis; D010051:Ovarian Neoplasms / Q000235:genetics*; D012306:Risk; D018570:Risk Assessment; D014481:United States