Increased genetic counseling support improves communication of genetic information in families.

PURPOSE

To determine whether the provision of additional genetic counseling support could improve the uptake of genetic services by "at-risk" relatives of probands.

METHODS

The Tasmanian Clinical Genetics Service implemented a specific counseling intervention to a cohort of patients who were diagnosed with a genetic condition with familial implications and compared this with a control cohort who had not experienced the specific counseling intervention. The study involved 150 family members in 19 different kindreds across the two cohorts. The principal outcome measure was the proportion of at-risk relatives who had made contact with the clinical genetics service within 2 years of the diagnosis in the index patient.

RESULTS

The proportion of at-risk relatives who made contact with the genetics service was 61% in the intervention cohort compared with 36% in the control cohort (P = 0.01). After controlling for the gender of the at-risk relatives, relatives in the intervention cohort were 2.6 times more likely to make contact with the genetics service (P = 0.02).

CONCLUSIONS

The provision of increased genetic counseling support significantly increased the proportion of at-risk relatives who made contact with the genetic service. This suggests that the communication of genetic information within families can be enhanced by the provision of increased genetic counseling support.