OBJECTIVES : To assess perceived cancer risk and awareness of Direct-to-Consumer Genetic Tests in the United States

METHODS : The study was a multiple iterations analysis using pooled data from Health Information National Trends Survey years 2007-2017. To control bias, the jackknife replicate weights were used. Descriptive analysis was conducted to describe sociodemographic characteristics, health history, health information seeking behavior, health beliefs, and health behaviors of the analytic sample. Univariate logistic regression was used to examine significant correlations with outcome variables. Significant variables from univariate logistic regression were included in the multivariable logistic regression models according to the Anderson Health Model.

RESULTS : The analytic sample included 17403 respondents in total. The awareness of genetic test increased from 29.23% in 2007 to 56.78% in 2017, with a sharp increase in 2012 (48.45%). Individuals who are Non-Hispanic Whites, married, employed, higher educated, with higher household income and in the metro areas were more likely to be aware of the genetic test. The odds of awareness of DTC genetic tests were significantly higher for those who actively seek cancer information (OR = 2.74, 95% CI = 2.33–3.22), use the Internet (OR = 1.53, 95% CI = 1.27–1.83), have regular health provider (OR = 1.38, 95% CI = 1.25–1.54), have health insurance (OR = 1.67, 95% CI = 1.42–1.97), with family history of cancer (OR = 1.18, 95% CI = 1.05–1.32), with personal history of cancer (OR = 1.24, 95% CI = 1.10–1.30) and with perceived higher chance of getting cancer (OR = 1.82, 95% CI = 1.48–2.56).

CONCLUSIONS : There is an increasing trend of awareness of genetic testing for the past ten years. However, the overall awareness is still low. Disparities persist among different racial groups, metro/non-metro areas and people with/without insurances. Future research should examine the impact of race, perception of cancer risk on genetic testing for cancer