Uptake of Cancer Genetic Services for Chatbot vs Standard-of-Care Delivery Models: The BRIDGE Randomized Clinical Trial.

Importance: Increasing numbers of unaffected individuals could benefit from genetic evaluation for inherited cancer susceptibility. Automated conversational agents (ie, chatbots) are being developed for cancer genetics contexts; however, randomized comparisons with standard of care (SOC) are needed.

Objective: To examine whether chatbot and SOC approaches are equivalent in completion of pretest cancer genetic services and genetic testing.

Variants Identified Through Tumor Genomic Profiling: Assessing Genetic Counseling Outcomes.

Purpose: As tumor genomic profiling (TGP) is increasingly used to help guide cancer treatment, variants, which may or may not be reflective of the germline genome, are being identified. As TGP use increases, it is becoming an important tool for referral to genetic counseling and identifying patients with hereditary cancer syndromes such as hereditary breast and ovarian cancer. This study explores genetic counseling referral patterns and germline implications of patients found to have pathogenic variants identified through TGP.

Patient Interactions With an Automated Conversational Agent Delivering Pretest Genetics Education: Descriptive Study.

Background: Cancer genetic testing to assess an individual's cancer risk and to enable genomics-informed cancer treatment has grown exponentially in the past decade. Because of this continued growth and a shortage of health care workers, there is a need for automated strategies that provide high-quality genetics services to patients to reduce the clinical demand for genetics providers. Conversational agents have shown promise in managing mental health, pain, and other chronic conditions and are increasingly being used in cancer genetic services.

Implications of Multigene Panel Testing on Psychosocial Outcomes: A Comparison of Patients With Pancreatic and Breast or Ovarian Cancer.

Purpose: National Comprehensive Cancer Network guidelines for germline genetic testing have included pancreatic cancer in the context of additional family cancer history for many years but this was not recommended for patients with pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC) independent of a family history until 2019. This hypothesis-generating study reports the results from multigene panel testing for PDAC patients at an academic medical center.

Patients And Methods: This prospective longitudinal feasibility study examined responses to genetic counseling and multigene panel testing among PDAC and breast or ovarian cancer (BrOv) patients between October 2016 and November 2017.

The Effects of At-Birth Adoption on Atypical Behavior and Anxiety: A Nonhuman Primate Model.

Objective: Adopted children tend to show an increased risk for a variety of psychopathological outcomes, even when adoption occurs at birth, which some suggest is a result of nonrandom assignment of adoptees and parents. This study uses a nonhuman primate model, in which adoptions were randomly assigned, to investigate the behavioral and physiological outcomes associated with at-birth adoption.

Method: Immediately following birth, rhesus monkey infants were randomly assigned to be reared by either their biological mother (n = 113) or by an unrelated, lactating, adoptive mother (n = 34).

Comparing models of delivery for cancer genetics services among patients receiving primary care who meet criteria for genetic evaluation in two healthcare systems: BRIDGE randomized controlled trial.

Background: Advances in genetics and sequencing technologies are enabling the identification of more individuals with inherited cancer susceptibility who could benefit from tailored screening and prevention recommendations. While cancer family history information is used in primary care settings to identify unaffected patients who could benefit from a cancer genetics evaluation, this information is underutilized. System-level population health management strategies are needed to assist health care systems in identifying patients who may benefit from genetic services.