Knowledge and perceptions of genetic testing for patients with breast cancer in Nigeria: a survey of healthcare providers.

IF 2 4区医学 Q3 ONCOLOGY

Hereditary Cancer in Clinical Practice Pub Date : 2025-05-19 DOI:10.1186/s13053-025-00315-w

Funmilola Olanike Wuraola, Anna Dare, Jenine Ramruthan, Emma Reel, Anna T Santiago, Folorunso Sharif, Agodirin Olayide, Nneka Sunday-Nweke, Olusegun Alatise, Tulin D Cil

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引用次数: 0

Abstract

Background: The role of genetics in breast cancer management is becoming increasingly essential in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA). Harmonized Guidelines by the National Comprehensive Cancer Network (NCCN) for SSA outline the subset of patients requiring genetic testing for hereditary breast cancer as part of their treatment plan. However, in low-and middle-income countries (LMICs) like Nigeria, access to genetic counselling and testing remains limited. Additionally, the knowledge and acceptability of these available services from the healthcare provider (HCP) perspective are largely unknown. This study aimed to assess the knowledge and perceptions of hereditary breast cancer testing among HCPs in Nigeria.

Methods: In June 2022, we conducted a survey among 549 Nigerian HCPs. The 35-item survey was administered using Google Forms and distributed via WhatsApp. The survey collected demographic data and included three sections on genetic testing in breast cancer patients, focusing on knowledge, perceptions, and training.

Results: The results were analyzed using R Version 4.4.1 (R Core Team). Altogether 121 HCPs responded (22% response rate): 54 (44.6%) general surgeons, 4 (3.3%) breast surgical oncologists, 29 (24.0%) clinical and radiation oncologists, 31(25.6%) oncology nurses, and 3 (2.5%) breast radiologists. The survey results indicate that Nigerian HCPs were knowledgeable about hereditary breast cancer genetics, but the implementation of counselling and testing was low. Only 32.2% of respondents had requested genetic testing for their patients, and all testing was done through private laboratories. Only 9.9% had received formal clinical genetics training, and 13.2% reported having a genetic counsellor in their hospital. There was considerable interest in future genetics training programs using in person and online teaching modalities.

Conclusion: This survey highlights the need for specialized breast cancer genetic training tailored for Nigerian HCPs, which is essential in achieving breast cancer treatment parity. Addressing the substantial challenges in expanding genetic testing capacity in Nigeria is warranted for future progress.

查看原文本刊更多论文

尼日利亚乳腺癌患者基因检测的知识和观念：对医疗保健提供者的调查。

背景：遗传学在乳腺癌管理中的作用在撒哈拉以南非洲（SSA）变得越来越重要。国家综合癌症网络（NCCN）的SSA协调指南概述了需要遗传性乳腺癌基因检测的患者子集，作为其治疗计划的一部分。然而，在像尼日利亚这样的低收入和中等收入国家，获得遗传咨询和检测的机会仍然有限。此外，从医疗保健提供者（HCP）的角度来看，这些可用服务的知识和可接受性在很大程度上是未知的。本研究旨在评估尼日利亚HCPs对遗传性乳腺癌检测的认识和认知。方法：于2022年6月对尼日利亚549名医护人员进行调查。这项共有35个问题的调查是通过谷歌表单进行的，并通过WhatsApp进行分发。该调查收集了人口统计数据，包括三个部分关于乳腺癌患者的基因检测，重点是知识、观念和培训。结果：使用R Version 4.4.1 （R Core Team）对结果进行分析。共有121名HCPs回应（22%回应率）：54名（44.6%）普通外科医生，4名（3.3%）乳腺外科肿瘤学家，29名（24.0%）临床和放射肿瘤学家，31名（25.6%）肿瘤护士，3名（2.5%）乳腺放射科医生。调查结果表明，尼日利亚的医务人员对遗传性乳腺癌遗传学有一定的了解，但咨询和检测的实施程度很低。只有32.2%的受访者要求为其患者进行基因检测，所有检测都是通过私人实验室完成的。只有9.9%的人接受过正式的临床遗传学培训，13.2%的人报告他们的医院有遗传咨询师。在未来的遗传学培训项目中，有相当大的兴趣使用面对面和在线教学模式。结论：这项调查强调了为尼日利亚医疗保健人员量身定制的专门乳腺癌基因培训的必要性，这对于实现乳腺癌治疗均等至关重要。为了今后取得进展，应对尼日利亚扩大基因检测能力方面的重大挑战是必要的。

本文章由计算机程序翻译，如有差异，请以英文原文为准。

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来源期刊

Hereditary Cancer in Clinical Practice 医学-肿瘤学

CiteScore

3.10

自引率

5.90%

发文量

审稿时长

>12 weeks

期刊介绍： Hereditary Cancer in Clinical Practice is an open access journal that publishes articles of interest for the cancer genetics community and serves as a discussion forum for the development appropriate healthcare strategies. Cancer genetics encompasses a wide variety of disciplines and knowledge in the field is rapidly growing, especially as the amount of information linking genetic differences to inherited cancer predispositions continues expanding. With the increased knowledge of genetic variability and how this relates to cancer risk there is a growing demand not only to disseminate this information into clinical practice but also to enable competent debate concerning how such information is managed and what it implies for patient care. Topics covered by the journal include but are not limited to: Original research articles on any aspect of inherited predispositions to cancer. Reviews of inherited cancer predispositions. Application of molecular and cytogenetic analysis to clinical decision making. Clinical aspects of the management of hereditary cancers. Genetic counselling issues associated with cancer genetics. The role of registries in improving health care of patients with an inherited predisposition to cancer.