چکیده (انگلیسی):

Objectives: To explore attitudes of Swiss older adults towards personal genomics (PG).
Methods: Using an anonymized voluntary paper-and-pencil survey, data were collected from 151 men and
women aged 60–89 years attending the Seniorenuniversität Zurich, Switzerland (Seniors' University). Analyses
were conducted using descriptive and inferential statistics.
Results: One third of the respondents were aware of PG, and more than half indicated interest in undergoing PG
testing. The primary motivation provided was respondents' interest in finding out about their own disease risk,
followed bywillingness to contribute to scientific research. Forty-four percentwere not interested in undergoing
testing because resultsmight be worrisome, or due to concerns about the validity of the results. Only a minority
of respondentsmentioned privacy-related concerns. Further, 66%were interested in undergoing clinic-based PG
motivated by the opportunity to contribute to scientific research (78%) and 75% of all study participants indicated
strong preferences to donate genomic data to public research institutions.
Conclusion: This study indicates a relatively positive overall attitude towards personal genomic testing among
older Swiss adults, a group not typically represented in surveys about personal genomics. Genomic data of
older adults can be highly relevant to late life health and maintenance of quality of life. In addition they can be
an invaluable source for better understanding of longevity, health and disease. Understanding the attitudes of
this population towards genomic analyses, although important, remains under-examined.
© 2016 The Authors. Published by Elsevier B.V. This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license
(http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/).