Original article Awareness of breast cancer genetics and interest in predictive genetic testing: a survey of a southern Italian population

Background: Before starting a molecular screening program for breast cancer risk and in order to develop ad hoc educational strategies, a population survey in Apulia, Italy, was performed to gather information on women’s awareness of breast cancer genetics and their attitude toward genetic testing for breast cancer risk. Patients and methods: A consecutive series of 677 healthy women with or without a family history of breast cancer, who attended the outpatient clinics of Lega Italiana per la Lotta contro i Tumori in Bari, Italy, for preventive visits, were asked to complete a 20-item questionnaire on socio-demo-graphics, risk perception, psychological characteristics and interest in genetic testing for breast can-cer predisposing genes. Results: Most women (77%) reported knowing something about the genetics of breast cancer; only 7 % of the women were not interested at all in genetic testing. These figures were not significantly different for women with or without a family history of breast cancer. The two most frequently cited reasons for being interested in genetic testing, accounting for more than 50 % of collected responses, were ‘to learn about your children’s risk ’ and ‘to help advance research’. On multiple logistic regression analysis, only older age [odds ratio (OR) 1.9; 95 % confidence interval (CI) 1.3–2.9] wa