Patient barriers to initial genetic risk assessment and follow up

Person, Dyanna (2017) Patient barriers to initial genetic risk assessment and follow up. Master Essay, University of Pittsburgh.

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Abstract

Breast cancer is a major public health concern. Before the recent increase in knowledge regarding breast cancer genetics and the development of BRCA testing, evaluating an individual’s risk of developing breast cancer was tedious. Women who test positive for known pathogenic BRCA mutations have a 40-66% lifetime risk of developing Breast Cancer. Identifying individuals at risk for the disease is beneficial for treating and for preventing the development of breast cancer. Doing so will lessen disease burden, decrease the resources used to treat the disease and increase quality of life for those with the mutations due to the availability of early interventions to those who screen positive. Genetic health care and interventions are becoming more accessible and accepted. Unfortunately, breast cancer risk assessment is still underutilized despite its ability to decrease mortality rates and increase quality of life when used appropriately. African American women are greatly affected by this as mortality rates are higher than Caucasians despite having lower breast cancer incidence rates. Our project was designed to identify patient barriers to breast cancer genetic risk assessment and follow up. We conducted a cross-sectional survey which was implemented in a predominately African American health clinic. We investigated differences in perceptions ad barrier due to religion, medical mistrust, education and stigma by race. Results suggested that African American patients were more likely to see religion as a barrier in unadjusted analysis with a p value of .027. Once we adjusted for age income and education it was no longer significant. After adjustment, we also found that Medical Mistrust was a significant barrier for African American patients. More work is needed to understand reasons for these barriers and solutions for combating them.

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Details

Item Type:	Other Thesis, Dissertation, or Long Paper (Master Essay)
Status:	Unpublished
Creators/Authors:	Creators Email Pitt Username ORCID Person, Dyanna dmp55@pitt.edu DMP55
Contributors:	Contribution Contributors Name Email Pitt Username ORCID Committee Chair Kammerer, Candace cmk3@pitt.edu cmk3 UNSPECIFIED Committee Member Gary-Webb, Tiffany tgary@pitt.edu tgary UNSPECIFIED
Date:	2017
Date Type:	Submission
Publisher:	University of Pittsburgh
Institution:	University of Pittsburgh
Schools and Programs:	School of Public Health > Human Genetics
Degree:	MPH - Master of Public Health
Thesis Type:	Master Essay
Refereed:	Yes
Date Deposited:	09 Aug 2017 13:49
Last Modified:	06 Apr 2023 10:56
URI:	http://d-scholarship.pitt.edu/id/eprint/31652

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