PT  - JOURNAL ARTICLE
AU  - J. A. Lowden
TI  - Role of the physician in screening for carriers of Tay-Sachs disease
DP  - 1978 Sep 23
TA  - Canadian Medical Association Journal
PG  - 575--578
VI  - 119
IP  - 6
4099  - http://www.cmaj.ca/content/119/6/575.short
4100  - http://www.cmaj.ca/content/119/6/575.full
SO  - CMAJ1978 Sep 23; 119
AB  - A screening test for carriers of Tay-Sachs disease has been available in Toronto for more than 6 years. In that time more than 11 000 Jewish residents have been tested. Most had requested testing after hearing about the screening program from friends or the media; few had been advised by their physicians to be tested. To sample the attitudes of physicians in Toronto towards carrier screening, we studied questionnaire responses of 42 physicians whose practices were composed largely of Jewish patients. Only 31% regularly advised their young adult Jewish patients to have a carrier screening test but 76% said they had patients who asked if they should be tested. Of the 14 (33%) who had had one or more patients with Tay-Sachs disease 6 did not advise carrier testing. There was a positive correlation between specialty training and support for the screening program. Methods for increasing physician advocacy of these programs are discussed.