Impact of numeracy preferences on information needs for genome sequencing results.
Richard D Albrechtsen, Melody S Goodman, Jemar R Bather and 1 others
PMID 33036816WHAT IT FOUND
Women with early breast cancer who liked numbers wanted more information about genetic test results.
Wanting numbers, not feeling able, was linked to this. They mostly wanted treatment, personal and family risk, not technical test details.
Key findings
01Participants most wanted information about prevention or treatment, personal disease risk and family disease risk; they least wanted technical details such as sequencing method, variant prevalence or when the variant was identified.
02Higher numeracy preference was associated with wanting a lot on twelve of the fourteen topics and with a higher total information-need score; higher numeracy ability was not associated with the total score.
03Knowledge of genome sequencing benefits, having biological siblings and having a living mother were associated with total information need, while BRCA1/2 mutation status and genetic condition diagnosis were not.
STILL TO COME
How it was doneWhat they foundWhat it means for RNs
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What it does not show
The sample was women diagnosed with breast cancer at age 40 or younger, so it may not apply to all breast cancer patients. Most participants were Caucasian (96%) and 44% had some graduate education. This limits generalizability across race, ethnicity and socioeconomic status. 83% had prior genetic testing, and participants were not offered sequencing as part of the study; preferences may differ at the time of actual results. The study reports associations from a survey, not tested effects of a communication strategy. Participants were generally past diagnosis and active treatment, so current patients may express different preferences.
Declared interests
The authors declared no conflicts of interest. The article was supported by NIH extramural funding.
The easy way to misread this
Do not conclude that patients who feel good with numbers want more genetic information. In this survey, only preference for numeric information was associated with wanting more topics; self-reported ability was not.