title: Participation of low-income women in genetic cancer risk assessment and BRCA 1/2 testing: the experience of a safety-net institution.
abstract: Some communities and populations lack access to genetic cancer risk assessment (GCRA) and testing. This is particularly evident in safety-net institutions, which serve a large segment of low-income, uninsured individuals. We describe the experience of a safety-net clinic with limited resources in providing GCRA and BRCA1/2 testing. We compared the proportion and characteristics of high-risk women who were offered and underwent GCRA and genetic testing. We also provide a description of the mutation profile for affected women. All 125 patients who were offered GCRA accepted to undergo GCRA. Of these, 72 % had a breast cancer diagnosis, 70 % were Hispanic, 52.8 % were non-English speakers, and 66 % did not have health insurance. Eighty four (67 %) were offered genetic testing and 81 (96 %) agreed. Hispanic women, those with no medical insurance, and those with a family history of breast cancer were significantly more likely to undergo testing (p > 0.01). Twelve of 81 (15 %) patients were found to have deleterious mutations, seven BRCA1, and five BRCA2. Our experience shows that it is possible to offer GCRA and genetic testing even in the setting of limited resources for these services. This is important given that a large majority of the low-income women in our study agreed to undergo counseling and testing. Our experience could serve as a model for similar low-resource safety-net health settings.
authors.affiliation: Maricopa Medical Center, Hogan Building, 2nd Floor, 2601 E Roosevelt Street, Phoenix, AZ, 85008, USA. Komenaka@hotmail.com.|Arizona Cancer Center, University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ, USA. Komenaka@hotmail.com.
authors.forename: Ian K
authors.initials: IK
authors.lastname: Komenaka
authors.affiliation: University of California, San Diego, Moores Cancer Center, La Jolla, CA, USA.
authors.forename: Jesse N
authors.initials: JN
authors.lastname: Nodora
authors.affiliation: University of California, San Diego, Moores Cancer Center, La Jolla, CA, USA.
authors.forename: Lisa
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Madlensky
authors.affiliation: Maricopa Medical Center, Hogan Building, 2nd Floor, 2601 E Roosevelt Street, Phoenix, AZ, 85008, USA.
authors.forename: Lisa M
authors.initials: LM
authors.lastname: Winton
authors.affiliation: Maricopa Medical Center, Hogan Building, 2nd Floor, 2601 E Roosevelt Street, Phoenix, AZ, 85008, USA.
authors.forename: Meredith A
authors.initials: MA
authors.lastname: Heberer
authors.affiliation: University of California, San Diego, Moores Cancer Center, La Jolla, CA, USA.
authors.forename: Richard B
authors.initials: RB
authors.lastname: Schwab
authors.affiliation: Division of Clinical Cancer Genetics, City of Hope, Duarte, CA, USA.
authors.forename: Jeffrey N
authors.initials: JN
authors.lastname: Weitzel
authors.affiliation: University of California, San Diego, Moores Cancer Center, La Jolla, CA, USA.
authors.forename: Maria Elena
authors.initials: ME
authors.lastname: Martinez
keywords: Disparity; Genetic cancer risk assessment; Hispanic; Latina; Minority; Underinsured