title: Judging health risk as a function of risk factors and type of illness: Do people weight risk factors in a flexible way?
abstract: We examined the extent to which lay people and health professionals are able to assess occurrence risks for multifactorial diseases. We asked 341 participants to assess the risk of developing lung cancer, coronary artery disease or rheumatoid arthritis in 16 scenarios, each featuring a combination of four factors (family history, daily alcohol intake, daily tobacco consumption and genetic test results). Participants considered all factors. However, they accorded more weight to tobacco and genetic test results. Moreover, it appears that where one of the factors (e.g. the presence of the incriminated gene) exerted a strong influence, the influence of the other factor(s) was correspondingly weaker. The health risk judgements of health professionals were more dependent on the specific disease and were also influenced to a greater degree by genetic information than lay people.
authors.affiliation: Université Toulouse II - Le Mirail, France guedj@univ-tlse2.fr.
authors.forename: Myriam
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Guedj
authors.affiliation: Ecole Pratique des Hautes Etudes, France.
authors.forename: Etienne
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Mullet
authors.affiliation: U 1027, UMR Inserm, Université Toulouse III - Paul Sabatier, France.
authors.forename: Anne
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Cambon-Thomsen
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D000428:Alcohol Drinking / Q000009:adverse effects; D001172:Arthritis, Rheumatoid / Q000209:etiology; D001835:Body Weight; D003327:Coronary Disease / Q000209:etiology; D005260:Female; D020022:Genetic Predisposition to Disease; D015438:Health Behavior; D007722:Health Knowledge, Attitudes, Practice; D006801:Humans; D008175:Lung Neoplasms / Q000209:etiology; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D018570:Risk Assessment / Q000379:methods; D012307:Risk Factors; D012907:Smoking / Q000009:adverse effects; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D055815:Young Adult
keywords: coronary artery disease; genetic susceptibility; health behaviour; health risk assessment; lung cancer; rheumatoid arthritis