Patients' interest in discussing cancer risk and risk management with primary care physicians

Abstract

Little is known about patients' preferences for discussing cancer risks and risk management with primary care physicians. We sought to determine whether patients want to discuss such topics and what factors are associated with this interest. Participants (375 patients ages 40-85, of diverse race and education level) completed a telephone survey prior to scheduled physician visits. Survey included items on perceived health, perceived cancer risk, education level, and whether participants would like to discuss with a physician their breast, ovarian or colon cancer risk, tamoxifen, cancer genetic counseling, and colon cancer screening. Greater proportions were interested in discussing risks for each cancer, compared with those who were not (P < 0.0001). More participants were interested in discussing mammograms (80%) and cancer genetic counseling (60%) than tamoxifen (49%) or colon cancer screening modalities (43-53%). For many topics, poorer perceived health was associated with greater interest in future discussion; higher education level was associated with less interest.