Table 1.
Respondent characteristics, and awareness of and attitudes toward WGS studies
| CPs (n = 1204) | FMs (n = 5958) | GAs (n = 2915) | ||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Males | Females | Males | Females | Males | Females | |||||||
| n | % | n | % | n | % | n | % | n | % | n | % | |
| Total | 504 | 41.9 | 700 | 58.1 | 2807 | 47.1 | 3151 | 52.9 | 1719 | 59.0 | 1196 | 41.0 |
| Age group (years)* | ||||||||||||
| 20–29 | 17 | 3.4 | 14 | 2.0 | 225 | 8.0 | 373 | 11.8 | 359 | 20.9 | 270 | 22.6 |
| 30–39 | 21 | 4.2 | 47 | 6.7 | 374 | 13.3 | 573 | 18.2 | 366 | 21.3 | 253 | 21.2 |
| 40–49 | 39 | 7.7 | 193 | 27.6 | 667 | 23.8 | 773 | 24.5 | 430 | 25.0 | 284 | 23.7 |
| 50–59 | 120 | 23.8 | 254 | 36.3 | 830 | 29.6 | 760 | 24.1 | 305 | 17.7 | 208 | 17.4 |
| 60–69 | 307 | 60.9 | 192 | 27.4 | 711 | 25.3 | 672 | 21.3 | 259 | 15.1 | 181 | 15.1 |
| Marital status | ||||||||||||
| Unmarried | 87 | 17.3 | 133 | 19.0 | 936 | 33.3 | 905 | 28.7 | 776 | 45.1 | 396 | 33.1 |
| Married | 417 | 82.7 | 567 | 81.0 | 1871 | 66.7 | 2246 | 71.3 | 943 | 54.9 | 800 | 66.9 |
| Do you have any children | ||||||||||||
| No | 171 | 33.9 | 270 | 38.6 | 1361 | 48.5 | 1388 | 44.0 | 990 | 57.6 | 567 | 47.4 |
| Yes | 333 | 66.1 | 430 | 61.4 | 1446 | 51.5 | 1763 | 56.0 | 729 | 42.4 | 629 | 52.6 |
| Education background | ||||||||||||
| Junior high school | 7 | 1.4 | 14 | 2.0 | 75 | 2.7 | 72 | 2.3 | 50 | 2.9 | 43 | 3.6 |
| High school | 133 | 26.4 | 228 | 32.6 | 735 | 26.2 | 924 | 29.3 | 492 | 28.6 | 399 | 33.4 |
| Occupational school | 51 | 10.1 | 122 | 17.4 | 367 | 13.1 | 536 | 17.0 | 255 | 14.8 | 230 | 19.2 |
| Junior college | 7 | 1.4 | 147 | 21.0 | 48 | 1.7 | 608 | 19.3 | 34 | 2.0 | 186 | 15.6 |
| University or graduate school | 306 | 60.7 | 189 | 27.0 | 1582 | 56.4 | 1011 | 32.1 | 888 | 51.7 | 338 | 28.3 |
| Annual household income, JPY | ||||||||||||
| <3,000,000 | 110 | 21.8 | 168 | 24.0 | 541 | 19.3 | 837 | 26.6 | 427 | 24.8 | 360 | 30.1 |
| 3,000,000–5,000,000 | 124 | 24.6 | 195 | 27.9 | 706 | 25.2 | 904 | 28.7 | 432 | 25.1 | 339 | 28.3 |
| 5,000,000–7,000,000 | 99 | 19.6 | 141 | 20.1 | 511 | 18.2 | 611 | 19.4 | 352 | 20.5 | 228 | 19.1 |
| 7,000,000–10,000,000 | 96 | 19.0 | 128 | 18.3 | 628 | 22.4 | 524 | 16.6 | 336 | 19.5 | 197 | 16.5 |
| ≧10,000,000 | 75 | 14.9 | 68 | 9.7 | 421 | 15.0 | 275 | 8.7 | 172 | 10.0 | 72 | 6.0 |
| Awareness of genetic testing | ||||||||||||
| Understand what it means | 138 | 27.4 | 170 | 24.3 | 658 | 23.4 | 684 | 21.7 | 237 | 13.8 | 181 | 15.1 |
| Have heard of it | 318 | 63.1 | 480 | 68.6 | 1809 | 64.4 | 2152 | 68.3 | 1055 | 61.4 | 770 | 64.4 |
| Have never heard of it | 48 | 9.5 | 50 | 7.1 | 340 | 12.1 | 315 | 10.0 | 427 | 24.8 | 245 | 20.5 |
| Experience with genetic testing | ||||||||||||
| Have taken it | 51 | 11.2 | 63 | 9.7 | 76 | 3.1 | 81 | 2.9 | 33 | 2.6 | 27 | 2.8 |
| Have never taken it | 395 | 86.6 | 580 | 89.2 | 2363 | 95.8 | 2716 | 95.8 | 1225 | 94.8 | 904 | 95.1 |
| Don’t recall | 10 | 2.2 | 7 | 1.1 | 28 | 1.1 | 39 | 1.4 | 34 | 2.6 | 20 | 2.1 |
| Awareness of WGS studies | ||||||||||||
| Know about it | 89 | 17.7 | 46 | 6.6 | 380 | 13.5 | 188 | 6.0 | 148 | 8.6 | 44 | 3.7 |
| Have heard of it | 173 | 34.3 | 215 | 30.7 | 941 | 33.5 | 797 | 25.3 | 445 | 25.9 | 221 | 18.5 |
| Have never heard of it | 242 | 48.0 | 439 | 62.7 | 1486 | 52.9 | 2166 | 68.7 | 1126 | 65.5 | 931 | 77.8 |
| Participation in WGS studies | ||||||||||||
| Want to participate | 163 | 32.3 | 204 | 29.1 | 856 | 30.5 | 765 | 24.3 | 331 | 19.3 | 199 | 16.6 |
| Don’t want to participate | 107 | 21.2 | 138 | 19.7 | 614 | 21.9 | 693 | 22.0 | 579 | 33.7 | 384 | 32.1 |
| Cannot decide | 234 | 46.4 | 358 | 51.1 | 1337 | 47.6 | 1693 | 53.7 | 809 | 47.1 | 613 | 51.3 |
WGS Whole genome sequencing, CPs cancer patients, FMs family members of cancer patients, GAs general adults
*The mean age (males/females) was 58.6/52.9 years for CPs, 49.7/47.2 years for FMs, 43.1/42.5 years for GAs, and 48.4/46.9 years overall. The median age (males/females) was 62.0/53.0 years for CPs, 51.0/48.0 years for FMs, 43.0/42.0 years for GAs, and 50.0/48.0 years overall