Assessing patient understanding of pharmacogenomic test results: a qualitative study

To examine whether patients with depression or chronic/acute pain understand the results of pharmacogenomic testing they had done as part of clinical research.

Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 45 patients who underwent pharmacogenomic testing and subsequently received their testing results by mail. These interviews assessed whether participants were aware that they had testing, how this testing impacted their current medications, and whether they grasped the future significance of this testing. A grounded theory approach was used to analyze this interview data.

All of our participants were aware that they had underwent medical testing and 23 (51%) were aware that this testing was genetic and was used to guide medication management. Almost all of our participants believed it was important to share their results with future providers and 24 (53%) recognized that their results could impact future medication management. Thirteen (29%) participants stated that their results found medicines they should avoid and eight named specific medicines they believed should be avoided based on their results.

Although our participants exhibited a general understanding of their pharmacogenomic results, we found that they lacked a sufficient understanding of how these results specifically impacted their current and future healthcare.