Establishing a Cancer Genetics Programme in Asia - the Singapore Experience

Table 5 Survey on genetic testing (n = 205)

Category	Percentage
	cancer patients (n = 110)a	cancer-free family members (n = 95)	p-value^a
breast cancer-related cases	74	42	0.000
colorectal cancer-related cases	23	57
Others	3	1
education level
≤6 years formal education	11	5	0.036
6-10 years formal education	36	25
>10 years formal education/diploma	24	22
university/post-graduate degree	29	48
perception of likelihood of carrying genetic mutation
very certain of carrying mutation	6	2	0.020
quite certain of carrying mutation	36	19
not sure	39	52
quite certain of not carrying mutation	16	21
very certain of not carrying mutation	3	6
taking genetic test if medically indicated?
yes definitely	33	53	0.004
yes probably	28	28
not sure	20	15
no probably	8	1
no, not at all	11	3
reasons for undergoing genetic testing ^b
beneficial to children	60	58	0.777
beneficial to family members	51	43	0.326
understand my cancer risk	16	38	0.000
motivates me to go for cancer screening	18	34	0.015
reasons against genetic testing ^b
cost	21	8	0.018
can't prevent another cancer	12	11	0.827
may feel depressed/angry/upset/stressed	9	7	0.801
worried about feelings of family	8	5	0.580
worried about insurability	5	7	0.553
will share information with
parents	68	76	0.278
siblings	87	95	0.090
children	66	72	0.447
spouse	82	82	1.000
feelings after genetic counselling ^c
negative feelings^d	40^e	24^f	0.018
indifferent	29	14	0.011
interested	26	35	0.169
empowered/informed	19	24	0.398
relieved/satisfied	12	23	0.040

^astatistical analysis was performed using Chi-square test for categorical variables, and Student's t-test for age; ^brespondents were allowed to cite more than one reason; ^crespondents may describe more than one kind of feelings; ^drespondents may describe more than one kind of negative feelings; ^enegative feelings: anxious (19%), burdensome (8%), upset (8%), confused (7%), distracted (4%), afraid (4%), numb (3%), shocked (3%), angry (2%), stressed (2%), depressed (1%); ^fnegative feelings: anxious (13%), afraid (5%), confused (4%), upset (4%), stressed (4%), burdensome (3%), depressed (3%), distracted (3%), numb (1%)

ISSN: 1897-4287