Testing a best practices risk result format to communicate genetic risks.
Kyle W Davis, Debra L Roter, Tara Schmidlen and 2 others
PMID 33131927WHAT IT FOUND
An enriched genetic risk report made people less likely to overestimate risk and lowered worry and felt vulnerability, regardless of math skill.
This was tested with a fictional leukemia report.
Key findings
01Participants receiving the enriched report were less likely to overestimate their lifetime leukemia risk than those receiving the standard report.
02Receiving the enriched report lowered affective and experiential risk perceptions, meaning worry and felt vulnerability.
03The effect of the enriched report did not depend significantly on numeracy level.
STILL TO COME
How it was doneWhat they foundWhat it means for RNs
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What it does not show
The risk report was fictional and hypothetical, and participants knew they were not truly at increased risk. The outcomes reported were risk perception measures, not health behavior. The sample was not representative of the US population: it was older, mostly female, with higher earnings and education. Only 22% of participants had low numeracy scores, so the study did not test the lower numeracy group well. The study was not pre-registered, and randomization was not blocked or stratified. The baseline risk of 1% may have been too close to zero. No sub-analyses were done for personal or family history of leukemia because the groups were small (N=7 and N=26).
Declared interests
One author reported grant funding from the National Human Genome Research Institute and non-financial support from Lineagen, Inc. He is also an employee of and holds stock options in Lineagen, Inc. He received non-financial protected time to complete the manuscript, which was based on his master's thesis. The other authors declared no conflicts.
The easy way to misread this
Do not conclude that this report format will change patients' real health decisions. The study used a fictional leukemia vignette and measured risk perception, not behavior.