New Ovarian Cancer Findings from Harvard Medical School Published (Association between Health Insurance Type and Genetic Testing and/or Counseling for Breast and Ovarian Cancer): Oncology – Ovarian Cancer

2022 SEP 09 (NewsRx) -- By a News Reporter-Staff News Editor at Insurance Daily News -- Current study results on ovarian cancer have been published. According to news originating from Boston, Massachusetts, by NewsRx editors, the research stated, “As genetic testing becomes increasingly incorporated into clinical practice to aid in both the diagnosis and risk assessment of genetic diseases, patients benefit from genetic counseling to support their understanding of test results either before and/or after genetic testing.”

Our news editors obtained a quote from the research from Harvard Medical School: “Therefore, access to genetic testing and counseling is imperative for patient care. It is well established that health insurance coverage is a major determinant of access to health care in the United States as individuals without insurance are less likely to have a regular source of health care than their insured counterparts. Different health insurance plans and benefits also influence patients’ access to health care. Data on the association of health insurance and the uptake of genetic testing and/or counseling for cancer risk are limited. Using data from the National Health Interview Survey, we examined the uptake of genetic testing and/or counseling for breast/ovarian cancer risk by health insurance type. We found that only a small proportion of women undergo genetic testing and/or counseling for breast/ovarian cancer risk (2.3%), even among subgroups of women at risk due to family or personal history (6.5%).”

According to the news editors, the research concluded: “Women with health insurance were more likely to undergo genetic testing and/or counseling for breast/ovarian cancer risk, particularly those with military and private insurance plans, than those without health insurance after adjusting for various demographic, socioeconomic, and health risk covariates. Further investigations are needed to examine potential disparities in access and health inequities.”

For more information on this research see: Association between Health Insurance Type and Genetic Testing and/or Counseling for Breast and Ovarian Cancer. Journal of Personalized Medicine, 2022,12(1263):1263. (Journal of Personalized Medicine - http://www.mdpi.com/journal/jpm). The publisher for Journal of Personalized Medicine is MDPI AG.

A free version of this journal article is available at https://doi.org/10.3390/jpm12081263.

Our news journalists report that additional information may be obtained by contacting Arian Mansur, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA 02115, United States. Additional authors for this research include Fang Zhang, Christine Y. Lu.

(Our reports deliver fact-based news of research and discoveries from around the world.)