Comparison of Latina and Non-Latina White Women's Beliefs About Communicating Genetic Cancer Risk to Relatives

Abstract

Breast cancer accounts for 30% of cancer among Latinas, and ovarian cancer is more common in Latinas than in non-Latina Whites. Latinas with a personal or family history of these cancers are increasingly referred for genetic cancer risk assessment (GCRA), but little is known about their perspectives regarding informing relatives of genetic cancer risk. We described and compared the pre-GCRA beliefs about informing relatives of genetic cancer risk, using survey data previously collected within a larger study. The sample included 475 Latina (N = 183; 39%) and non-Latina (N = 292; 61%) White women with a personal or family history of breast or ovarian cancers. Data analysis used descriptive statistics, chi-square and Wilcoxon rank-sum tests, and logistic regression. Findings revealed that most women believed their relatives should be informed of genetic cancer risk (92%), that informing was strictly a personal duty (88%), and that informing should be done only in person (60%). Multiple logistic regression demonstrated that education (odds ratio [OR] 2.55, 95% confidence interval [CI] 1.15–5.66), Latina ethnicity (odds ratio [OR] 0.22, 95% CI, 0.09–0.53), and Spanish as primary language (OR, 0.17, 95% CI, 0.06–0.47) were independently associated with the belief that a clinician should be the informant.

This research was supported by funds from the California Breast Cancer Research Program of the University of California, grant number 5BP-0051 (DJM, PI), and in part by funds received under a DSCN-03-199-03 Doctoral Scholarship in Cancer Nursing from the American Cancer Society (DJM) and grant agreement no. 99-86874 with the California Department of Health Services, Cancer Research Section (JNW, PI).

Notes

^a Sample size reflects available data.

^b Single, divorced, separated, widowed.

^c Nonsignificant; P set at 0.017, Bonferroni correction for multiple comparisons.

^d First-second-third-degree relatives of the 444 families; percentages may add to more than 100

because some women had both breast and ovarian cancers.

^e Family history unknown for one woman who was adopted.

^a Sample size reflects available data.

^b Ductal carcinoma-in-situ.

^a Sample size reflects available data.

^a Sample size reflects available data.

^b % may not add up to 100% due to rounding.

^c NS, P set at ≤ .017, Bonferroni correction for multiple comparisons.

^a OR: odds ratio; 95% CI: 95% confidence interval.

^a OR: odds ratio; 95% CI: 95% confidence interval.

^b The multivariate model examined any response of “self” vs. response of “health care provider only; for ethnicity this analysis included the effects of education and vice versa; for Latinas’ language the model included the effect of education.

^a OR: odds ratio; 95% CI: 95% confidence interval.