Effect of communicating personalized rheumatoid arthritis risk on concern for developing RA: A randomized controlled trial

•This trial compared disclosure of chronic disease risk to a standard strategy.•Personalized risk disclosure lowered concern for developing chronic disease.•Disclosing personalized chronic disease risk may provide reassurance to those at risk. To investigate the effect of providing comprehensive personalized risk information on concern for chronic disease development. Unaffected first-degree relatives (FDRs) of rheumatoid arthritis (RA) patients (n = 238) were randomly allocated to: 1) disclosure of RA risk personalized to demographics, genetics, biomarkers, and behaviors using a web-based tool (PRE-RA arm, n = 78); 2) PRE-RA with interpretation by a health educator (PRE-RA Plus arm, n = 80); and 3) standard RA education (Comparison arm, n = 80). Concern for developing RA was assessed at baseline and immediately, 6 weeks, 6 months, and 12 months post-intervention. FDRs randomized to PRE-RA arms were less concerned about developing RA than the Comparison arm at all post-intervention assessments (p