Saudi Women's Interest in Breast Cancer Gene Testing: Possible Influence of Awareness, Perceived Risk and Socio-demographic Factors

Abstract

Background: Development of effective educational strategies should accompany increases in public awareness and the availability of genetic testing for breast cancer (BC). These educational strategies should be designed to fulfill the knowledge gap while considering factors that influence women's interest in order to facilitate decision making. Objective: To determine the possible correlates of Saudi women's interest in BC genes testing including socio-demographics, the level of awareness towards BC genes, the family history of BC and the perceived personal risk among adult Saudi women in Al Hassa, Saudi Arabia. Subjects and methods: This cross-sectional study was carried out during the second BC community-based campaign in Al Hassa, Saudi Arabia. All Saudi women aged ≥ 18 years (n=781) attending the educational components of the campaign were invited to a personal interview. Data collection included gathering information about sociodemographics, family history of BC, the perceived personal risk for BC, awareness and attitude towards BC genes and the women's interest in BC genes testing. Results: Of the included women (n=599), 19.5% perceived higher risk for BC development, significantly more among < 40 years of age, and with positive family history of BC before 50 years of age. The participants demonstrated a poor level of awareness regarding the inheritance, risk, and availability of BC genetic testing. The median summated knowledge score was 1.0 (out of 7 points) with a knowledge deficit of 87.8%. The level of knowledge showed significant decline with age (> 40 years). Of the included women 54.7% expressed an interest in BC genetic testing for assessing their BC risk. Multivariate regression model showed that being middle aged (Odds Ratio 'OR'=1.88, confidence intervals 'C.I'=1.14-3.11), with higher knowledge level (OR=1.67, C.I=1.08-2.57) and perceiving higher risk for BC (OR=2.11, C.I=1.61-2.76) were the significant positive correlates for Saudi women interest in BC genetic testing. Conclusion: Saudi women express high interest in genetic testing for BC risk despite their poor awareness. This great interest may reflect the presence of inappropriate information regarding BC genetic testing and its role in risk analysis.

Breast Cancer Awareness at the Community Level among Women in Delhi, India

“…Recent study done on awareness of BC warning signs and screening methods among female residents of Pokhara Valley at Nepal by Sathian et al (2014) also supported finding by adding that high SES women are exposed to health-related issues through mass media, internet and a better socioeconomic status enables support of screening services. Similar associations with SES were observed by Kanaga et al in Malaysia (Kanaga et al, 2011) and Amin et al in Saudi Arabia when enquiring about BC gene testing awareness (Amin et al, 2012).…”

Physical Activity and Cancer Prevention: Awareness and Meeting the Recommendations among Adult Saudis

“…Inconsistent to our findings, the previous reports stated a higher level of knowledge compared to Saudi population, where only 18.6% and 23.1% correctly picked up the cancer types prevented by PA namely colon and breast cancers respectively. Coups et al (2008) found that only 15% of the included U.S sample knew about the role of PA in colon cancer prevention, a close figure to ours (Coups et al, 2008).Women in this study were more aware about the role of PA in preventing breast cancer this could be explained by the frequent campaigns held in the last several years about breast cancer prevention in the Eastern Province of Saudi Arabia and the higher perceived risk of breast cancer among them (Amin et al, 2012b), Physical Activity and Cancer Prevention: Awareness and Meeting the Recommendations among Adult Saudis.…”

Primary care patient willingness for genetic testing for salt-sensitive hypertension: a cross sectional study

“…This study found that exactly half of the patients in a primary care setting wanted to have their genetic risk of salt sensitivity hypertension assessed. This is consistent with the 43–76% rate at which participants in other studies, including cancer patients, the relatives of cancer patients, and attendees of the educational component of a breast cancer awareness campaign, have been interested in genetic testing for cancers and hereditary diseases in previous studies [9,12,13,16,17]. …”

“…Studies have also focused on patients attending cancer clinics, [12-14] or receiving direct-to-consumer genetic testing [15]. Two studies performed in primary care settings examined awareness of genetic risk of hereditary diseases [16] and breast cancer [17]. However, the proportion of primary care patients who are willing to undergo genetic testing for common diseases, aside from cancer, remains unknown.…”