OBJECTIVES: To assess whether healthcare professionals correctly
incorporate the relevance of a favourable test outcome in a close relative
when determining the level of risk for individuals at risk for
Huntington's disease. DESIGN AND SETTING: Survey of clinical geneticists
and genetic counsellors from 12 centres of clinical genetics (United
Kingdom, 6; The Netherlands, 4; Italy, 1; Australia, 1) in May-June 2002.
Participants were asked to assess risk of specific individuals in 10
pedigrees, three of which required use of Bayes' theorem. PARTICIPANTS: 71
clinical geneticists and 41 other healthcare professionals involved in
genetic counselling. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: Proportion of respondents
correctly assessing risk in the three target pedigrees; proportion of
respondents who were confident of their estimate. RESULTS: 50%-64% of
respondents (for the three targets separately) did not include the
favourable test information and inc