Views of Icelandic women towards genetic counseling - and testing of BRCA2 mutations

Introduction The aim of this study was to explore the attitudes of Icelandic women towards existing genetic information, genetic counseling and genetic testing for BRCA mutations which dramatically increase risk for aggressive cancers. Materials and methods Women attending the cancer prevention clinic in Reykjavik, capital of Iceland, from October 12th until November 20th 2015 received an invitation to participate. Participation involved answering a short online questionnaire about background, family history of cancer as well as attitudes towards genetic counseling, BRCA testing and preventive use of such information. Descriptive statistics and chi-square tests were used to describe differences in attitudes towards those questions between subgroups of women. Results 1129 women (69% response rate) answered the questionnaire. Mean age was 47 years (span 21-76 years). Around half (47%) had heard fairly much about the mutations. Independent of family history of cancer, the majority of women were positive towards receiving genetic counseling (79%) and to undergo genetic testing (83%) for BRCA mutation with younger women being more interested than older women. On the other hand, only 4% of the women had already received genetic counseling and 7% undergone genetic testing. Women with family history of cancer were more knowledgeable about BRCA mutations (p