Genetic counseling may lessen cancer fears

People who have a family history of cancer react by either getting lots of tests, or don't get screened at all, researchers in Spain say. "Excessive concern about cancer can result in two kinds of behavior, some people undergo excessive and unnecessary diagnostic tests, while others do not want to take any, out of fear that they will discover they have cancer," lead author Esther Cabrera, director of the School of Health Sciences at the Mataro-Maresme Technocampus in Barcelona, says in a statement. The study involved 212 healthy women without any family history of breast cancer. Before the researchers studied their family trees, they had the patients answer test questions. Several days after the genetic counseling, the questions were asked again. The Escala de Preocupacion por el Cancer an equivalent of the Cancer Worry Scale shows "that the degree of patients' concern does not increase following genetic counseling quite the contrary, the researchers say. The study, published in Medicina Clinica, shows that the scale is a valid and reliable scale for evaluating concern about cancer in healthy people. It is a translation and a cultural adaptation of the English-language Cancer Worry Scale: six questions that measure concern on a scale ranging from 6 the least to 24 the highest level. For those with a family history of cancer, genetic counseling is the right kind of tool for reducing these worries, the study says.