• Heesang Eum, Mangyeong Lee, Junghee Yoon, Juhee Cho, Eun Sook Lee, Kui Son Choi, Sangwon Lee, So-Youn Jung, Myong Cheol Lim, Sun-Young Kong, and Yoon Jung Chang.
• Center for Breast Cancer, Hospital, National Cancer Center, Goyang, South Korea.
• Eur. J. Hum. Genet. 2018 Oct 1; 26 (10): 1432-1440.

AbstractWith further advances in medical genetics, genetic tests to determine predisposition to disease are becoming viable for a growing number of diseases. Accordingly, it has also become important to identify various viewpoints on genetic testing. The aims of this study were to examine awareness of and attitudes toward genetic testing among the general public (public), cancer patients (patients), and health-care professionals (clinicians and researchers) in Korea. The present survey was conducted from November 2016 to February 2017. The public and patients were surveyed via face-to-face interviews conducted by trained interviewers. Health-care professionals were surveyed via self-administered questionnaires. In total, 1500 individuals from the general public, 1500 cancer patients, 113 clinicians, and 413 researchers were surveyed. Most respondents from the public and patients had previously heard about genetic testing (public, 89.4%; patients, 92.7%, p < 0.01). Differences in attitudes toward genetic testing among the public, patients, and professionals were noted, although most respondents in the present study were aware of genetic testing. Most of the cancer patients tended to overestimate the potential benefit of genetic testing, whereas clinicians expressed concerns for genetic testing. Providing correct information to people who are scheduled to undergo or order genetic testing could help in making an informed decision thereon.

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