Genetic Knowledge of Parents and Children With Inherited Cardiac Syndromes

- Sudden cardiac death afflicts over 400,000 people each year in the United States.
- At-risk patients may choose to pursue genetic testing to guide treatment decisions.
- Nurses often face the challenge of assessing genetic literacy patients and families.
- Among our cohort, patients' attitudes toward genetic testing varied markedly.
- Enhancing genetic knowledge is key for providing effective treatments for sudden arrhythmia death syndromes.

Although genetic knowledge related to sudden arrhythmia death syndromes (SADS) has enhanced risk prediction and treatment, it is challenging to assess genetic literacy of individual patients and families. To address this, participants attending the 2015 SADS conference were asked to complete a survey measuring general knowledge of genes and heredity. Correct responses averaged 85 ± 9% with correct responses of ≥ 80% for 17 of 21 questions. However, attitudes toward genetic testing varied markedly. These results suggest that understanding motivations or disincentives to pursue genetic testing is as important as enhancing genetic knowledge for providing effective treatments for SADS.