Short-term psychological benefits to consumer genetic testing: Findings from the pgen study

Background: While disclosure of genetic information in clinical settings rarely causes lasting psychological distress, few studies have examined the emotional impact in consumer settings. Methods: Prior to DNA analysis and again 2 weeks and 6 months after receiving genetic profiles, 1,853 customers of consumer genetics services completed the 2-item Generalized Anxiety Disorder scale (GAD), the 2-item Patient Health Questionnaire (PHQ), and a 2-item positive affect scale adapted from the Mental Health Index (MHI) (scale ranges: 2-8). In addition, customers reported results-specific responses by completing a 7-item distress (range: 0-35) and 2-item positive affect (range: 0-10) scale adapted from the Impact of Genetic Testing for Alzheimer's disease (IGT-AD) scale at each follow-up. Trends over time were analyzed using generalized estimating equations controlling for gender, race, age, education, and company.

Results: Two weeks post-disclosure, customers showed minor decreases in general anxiety (Δ=-.22, p<.001) and depression (Δ=-.14, p<.001), while showing increases in positive affect (Δ=.15, p=.002). However, differences from baseline were no longer statistically significant 6 months after disclosure (GAD: Δ=-.07, p=.10; PHQ: Δ=-.04, p=.31; MHI: Δ=-.06, p=.24). Results-specific distress decreased between the 2 week and 6 month follow-ups ( Δ=-.43, p=.005) as did results-specific positive affect (Δ=-.37, p<.001).

Conclusions: Consumers' moods improved immediately after disclosure of genetic profiles and returned to baseline over time. Results are consistent with prior findings from research on consumer genetic testing. Ongoing analyses in the PGen Study will examine how specific genetic profile results affected emotional responses.