As set forth in the introduction section we suppose that the spirituality has a negative correlation with the risk perception. No

difference has arisen between religious and non-religious subjects; however, one have to consider as a limit the measure of religion and religiosity which is not overtly articulated and thorough as far as prayers and the degree of emotional and cognitive involvement in these rites are concerned. Limitations Limitations to the current study should be noted. To begin, it is important to take into consideration BMS202 nmr the self-selection bias. The general overestimation of the risk can be due, from one part to the self-referral way of inclusion in the study and to the other part, to the fact that all the Rabusertib molecular weight eligible subjects for this study had almost one first degree relative affected by cancer of the breast or ovaries. In actual fact, the subjects of this study asked for a visit because they thought their chances of having a mutation and/or their breast cancer risk was high. Secondly, the BRCAPRO evaluation model can introduce some limitation (that is an underestimation of the risk), not considering

in the calculation of the risk relatives with less than first degree of kinship. Moreover, the instrument used to measure the perceived risk, the numerical visual analogue scale, sometimes lead the patients to overestimate their own risk [13]. Thirdly, it could be difficult to know how generalizable these results from a BAY 11-7082 select sample of subjects coming from the centre of Italy are to populations that come from other parts of Italy or to other ethnic groups. Conclusions In Italy, where health care is mainly a public service concern, and cancer genetic counseling is a relatively new concept and is almost invariably offered within the framework of clinical research units, the variable “”perception of risk”" has been very little investigated [18]. The

present study attempts to describe the perception of risk in subjects who have requested oncological genetic counseling in a sample of Central Italy. The results are similar to other studies carried out in other countries in the following ways: general overestimation of the risk, inaccurate perception PTK6 compared to systems of objective calculation and an underestimation or more accurate estimation in those subjects with eligibility criteria. Practice Implications From information derived from this study we find that the doctors working in the oncological genetic counseling in Italy, as well in other countries, are face an exacting task to impart information to people who often have high anxiety levels (they do not usually reach pathological limits) and an exaggerated perception of personal risk of having a genetic mutation and/or a tumour. In particular we found that the misperception of the risk is higher for the subjects with familiarity or with sporadic events of breast and/or ovarian tumours in their family (at intermediate or slightly increased risk, Table 1).