Opinions, hopes and concerns regarding pharmacogenomics: a comparison of healthy individuals, heart failure patients and heart transplant recipients

It is not yet known whether healthy individuals and patients with a chronic disease have similar attitudes towards pharmacogenomics. Thus we conducted a survey of 175 healthy volunteers, 175 heart failure (HF) patients and 100 heart transplant recipients to compare their opinions on this subject. Most participants (>90%) stated that they would accept pharmacogenomic testing and expressed high hopes regarding its potential applications. Overall, interest for pharmacogenomics was shared equally among the three groups. In contrast, after adjusting for age, gender, education and income, healthy individuals were more likely to voice concerns about potential employment (P = 0.008 vs HF, odds ratio (OR) = 2.93, confidence interval (CI) = 1.33-6.47; P = 0.010 vs Transplant, OR = 2.46, CI = 1.24-4.90) and insurance discrimination (P = 0.001 vs HF, OR = 5.58, CI = 2.01-15.48; P < 0.001 vs Transplant, OR = 4.98, CI = 2.03-12.21) and were possibly more worried by confidentiality issues. These findings highlight the need for strict legislation and proper educational strategies directed at the general population to facilitate the clinical implementation of pharmacogenomics.