Cancer Health Center

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A prospective Australian study evaluated the psychological impact of genetic testing at baseline, 7 to 10 days, 4 months, and 12 months in 60 women of Ashkenazi Jewish heritage (ten with breast cancer, 50 unaffected). Of the 43 women who opted to learn their test results, 97% felt pleased to have had the test and, at 12 months of follow-up, none regretted having been tested. Seventeen women opted not to receive their results and had significantly lower levels of breast cancer anxiety than did those who opted to receive their results. Women with no history of cancer who opted to learn their results showed a progressive decrease in breast cancer anxiety over the 12-month study period compared with baseline measures. There was also no statistically significant difference in measures of depression and generalized anxiety from baseline to the follow-up assessments.[99] However, these results must be interpreted in light of the fact that only 7 of 43 women had deleterious mutations.

Despite generally positive findings regarding diminished distress in tested individuals, most studies also report increased distress among small subsets of tested individuals. Most, but not all, of these increases are within the normal range of distress. Increased distress has been noted by individuals receiving both positive and negative test results. Studies suggest that the psychological impact of an individual test result is highly influenced by the test result status of other family members. A 1999 study found that an individual's response to learning his or her own BRCA1/BRCA2 test result was significantly influenced by his or her gender and by the genetic test result status of other family members. Adverse, immediate outcomes were experienced by male carriers who were the first tested in their family or by noncarrier men whose siblings were all positive. In addition, female carriers who were the first in their families to be tested or whose siblings were all negative had significantly higher distress than other female carriers.[74] Another study found that spousal anxiety about genetic testing and supportiveness differentiated the impact of BRCA1/BRCA2 test results. When the spouse was highly anxious and unsupportive in style, the mutation carrier had significantly higher levels of distress. These studies illustrate that genetic test results are not received in a vacuum, and that researchers need to consider the context of the tested individual in determining which individuals applying for genetic testing may require additional emotional support.[75]

In another study, depression rates postdisclosure were unchanged for mutation carriers and markedly decreased for noncarriers.[25] An analysis of the distress of individuals receiving BRCA1 results in the context of their siblings' results, however, revealed patterns of response suggesting that certain subgroups of tested individuals have markedly increased levels of distress after disclosure that were not apparent when the analysis focused only on comparing the mean scores for carriers versus noncarriers.[74] Early optimistic findings may not sufficiently reflect the true complexity of response to disclosure of BRCA1/BRCA2 test results. Female carriers who had no carrier siblings had distress scores (IES) similar to those found in cancer patients 10 weeks after their diagnosis. The distress of male subjects was highly correlated with the status of their siblings' test results or lack thereof.[74] One pilot study suggested that women diagnosed more recently were more distressed after counseling.[100] A survey of women enrolled in a high-risk clinic found that heightened levels of distress may be more related to living with the awareness of a familial risk for cancer than with the genetic testing process itself. Obtaining genetic testing may be less stressful than living with the awareness of familial risk for cancer.[101] (Refer to the PDQ Supportive Care summaries on Depression and Adjustment to Cancer: Anxiety and Distress for more detailed information about depression and anxiety associated with a cancer diagnosis.) Case descriptions have supported the importance of family relationships and test outcomes in shaping the distress of tested individuals.[102,103]