Women at risk of developing breast cancer felt less regret about discovering their test results than those who 'chose not to know', a survey has found.
The UNSW-led research focused on women who had undergone a new type of genetic testing to ascertain their risk of breast cancer.
The genetic testing determined a woman's "polygenic risk score" (PRS), which looks broadly at DNA variants associated with cancer risk.
Of the 208 study participants, 165 women agreed to receive their PRS after testing while 43 women didn't want to know.
The study found a significantly higher proportion of the 43 women who declined to know their results regretted their decision.
The average regret of those women was calculated at 38 out of 100, while women who knew their PRS recorded an average regret score of nine out of 100.
Lead author Tatiane Yanes said the survey results could help guide women undergoing breast cancer screening, as well as their doctors.
"Those who had received the results reported basically minimal regret.
"In fact, more than half of them actually had a score of zero, which means no regret at all," Dr Yanes said in a statement on Tuesday.
"What we don't want is that people decline information out of fear, or aren't able to make an informed decision because they may not fully understand the information or what the implications for them are."
Australian Associated Press
