Genetic clinicians' confidence in BOADICEA comprehensive breast cancer risk estimates and counselees' psychosocial outcomes: A prospective study

Abstract

Counseling for familial breast cancer focuses on communicating the gene test result (GENE) to counselees, but risk prediction models have become more complex by including non-genetic risk factors (NGRF) and polygenic risk scores (PRS). We examined genetic clinicians' confidence in counseling and counselees' psychosocial outcomes, using the BOADICEA risk prediction tool with different categories of risk factors as input. A prospective observational study in Dutch, French and German genetic clinics was performed including 22 clinicians, and 406 of 460 (88.3%) eligible cancer-unaffected women at high breast cancer risk assessed at pre-test and 350 (76.1%) at post-test. We performed multilevel analyses accounting for the clinician, and counselees' characteristics. Overall, risk estimates category by GENE versus GENE+ NGRF, or GENE+NGRF+PRS differed in 11% and 25% of counselees, respectively. In multilevel analyses, clinicians felt less confident in counseling when the full model provided lower breast cancer risks than GENE (i.e., in 8% of cases). Older counselees expressed higher breast cancer risk perception and worries about the hereditary predisposition when the full model provided higher breast cancer risks than GENE only. Genetic clinicians appear confident with breast cancer risk comprehensive models, which seem only to affect perceptions of older counselees.

Keywords: BOADICEA; breast cancer risk estimates; genetic-specific psychosocial difficulties; risk communication; self-confidence.

FIGURE 1

Design of the prospective cohort study [Colour figure can be viewed at wileyonlinelibrary.com]

FIGURE 2

Predicted values in counselees' breast cancer risk perception by change between BOADICEA BASIC and FULL estimates and according to age. To avoid multicollinearity in models with interaction, continuous variables are centered so values of age represent the deviation from the mean (i.e., −20 means someone who is 20 years younger than the average age of the participants; 40 means someone who is 40 years older than the average age) [Colour figure can be viewed at wileyonlinelibrary.com]

FIGURE 3

Predicted values in counselees' difficulties in hereditary predisposition by change between BOADICEA BASIC and FULL estimates and according to age. To avoid multicollinearity in models with interaction, continuous variables are centered so values of age represent the deviation from the mean (i.e., −20 means someone who is 20 years younger than the average age of the participants; 40 means someone who is 40 years older than the average age) [Colour figure can be viewed at wileyonlinelibrary.com]