AWARENESS OF HEIGHTENED BREAST-CANCER RISK AMONG FIRST-DEGREE RELATIVES OF RECENTLY DIAGNOSED BREAST-CANCER PATIENTS

This investigation had two goals: (a) to determine the proportion of f irst-degree relatives of recently diagnosed breast cancer patients who are unaware of their elevated risk for breast cancer; and (b) to iden tify demographic, medical, and lifestyle factors that characterize the se women, The ultimate objective was to identify women at increased ri sk who could benefit from breast cancer risk education, Three hundred ninety-five female first-degree relatives, ages 30-75 years, completed a structured telephone interview, Twenty-five % of these women believ ed that their risk for breast cancer was the ''same as or lower than'' women who do not have a family history of breast cancer, despite the fact that they had an objectively increased risk, Bivariate analyses r evealed that women who were unmarried (chi(2) = 14.8; P = 0.001) and h ad less than or equal to a high school education (chi(2) = 9.2; P = 0. 002) were significantly less likely to perceive themselves as being at increased risk for breast cancer, In addition, almost one-half of Afr ican-American women were unaware of their increased risk compared to o nly 19% of white women (chi(2) = 29.9; P < 0.001), More smokers were u naware of their elevated risk compared to nonsmokers (43 versus 21%; c hi(2) = 15.1; P < 0.001), In logistic regression analysis, the followi ng three variables were significant independent ''predictors'' of lack of awareness of heightened breast cancer risk: (a) being African Amer ican versus white (odds ratio = 5.5; confidence interval = 2.5-12.0); (b) currently smoking (odds ratio = 4.0; confidence interval = 1.9-8.3 ); and (c) the absence of formal risk notification by a health care pr ovider (odds ratio = 2.2; confidence interval = 1.1-4.2), On the basis of these results, it appears important to target smokers and ethnic m inorities for breast cancer risk education programs.