Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2017 Feb;26(1):40-51.
doi: 10.1007/s10897-016-9977-2. Epub 2016 Jun 17.

Health Behaviors and their Relationship with Disease Control in People Attending Genetic Clinics with a Family History of Breast or Colorectal Cancer

Annie S Anderson  1 , Stephen Caswell  2 , Maureen Macleod  2 , Robert Jc Steele  2 , Jonathan Berg  3 , Jacqueline Dunlop  3 , Martine Stead  4 , Douglas Eadie  4 , Ronan E O'Carroll  5
Affiliations

Health Behaviors and their Relationship with Disease Control in People Attending Genetic Clinics with a Family History of Breast or Colorectal Cancer

Annie S Anderson et al. J Genet Couns. 2017 Feb.

Abstract

The current work aimed to assess health behaviors, perceived risk and control over breast/colorectal cancer risk and views on lifestyle advice amongst attendees at cancer family history clinics. Participants attending the East of Scotland Genetics Service were invited to complete a questionnaire (demographic data, weight and height, health behaviors and psycho-social measures of risk and perceived control) and to participate in an in-depth interview. The questionnaire was completed by 237 (49 %) of attendees, ranging from 18 to 77 years (mean age 46 (±10) years). Reported smoking rates (11 %) were modest, most (54 %) had a BMI > 25 kg/m2, 55 % had low levels of physical activity, 58 % reported inappropriate alcohol intakes and 90 % had fiber intakes indicative of a low plant diet. Regression analysis indicated that belief in health professional control was associated with higher, and belief in fatalism with poorer health behavior. Qualitative findings highlighted doubts about the link between lifestyle and cancer, and few were familiar with the current evidence. Whilst lifestyle advice was considered interesting in general there was little appetite for non-tailored guidance. In conclusion, current health behaviors are incongruent with cancer risk reduction guidance amongst patients who have actively sought advice on disease risk. There are some indications that lifestyle advice would be welcomed but endorsement requires a sensitive and flexible approach, and the acceptability of lifestyle interventions remains to be explored.

Keywords: Activity; Cancer; Control; Diet; Fatalism; Genetic; Lifestyle; Overweight.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

Annie S. Anderson, Stephen Caswell, Maureen Macleod, Robert JC Steele, Jonathan Berg, Jacqueline Dunlop, Martine Stead and Ronan O’Carroll declare that they have no conflict of interest. Human Studies and Informed Consent All procedures followed were in accordance with the ethical standards of the responsible committee on human experimentation (institutional and national) and with the Helsinki Declaration of 1975, as revised in 2000 (5). Informed consent was obtained from all patients for being included in the study. Animal Studies No animal studies were carried out by the authors for this article.

References

    1. Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (2016) http://www.ahrq.gov/sites/default/files/wysiwyg/professionals/clinicians... - PubMed
    1. Ahn J, Schatzkin A, Lacey JV, Jr, Albanes D, Ballard-Barbash R, Adams KF, Kipnis V, et al. Adiposity, adult weight change and post-menopausal breast cancer risk. Arch Intern Med. 2007;167(19):2091–2102. doi: 10.1001/archinte.167.19.2091. - DOI - PubMed
    1. Akhtar S, Sinha S, McKenzie S, Sagar PM, Finan PJ, Burke D. Awareness of risk factors amongst first degree relative patients with colorectal cancer. Colorectal Dis. 2008;10(9):887–890. - PubMed
    1. Anderson AS, Caswell S, Wells M, Steele RJ. Obesity and lifestyle advice in colorectal cancer survivors - how well are clinicians prepared? Colorectal dis. Aug. 2013;15(8):949–957. - PubMed
    1. Anderson AS, Craigie AM, Caswell S, Treweek S, Stead M, Macleod M, Daly F, et al. The impact of a body weight and physical activity weight loss intervention (BeWEL) initiated through a national colorectal cancer screening programme. BMJ. 2014;348:g1823. doi: 10.1136/bmj.g1823. - DOI - PMC - PubMed