Health
CDC to research family communication issues around hemochromatosis
NEWS IN BRIEF — Posted Feb. 28, 2005
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has contracted Research Triangle International, an independent nonprofit organization, to research how physicians, patients and relatives talk to each other about the genetic disease hemochromatosis, according to a statement posted on the agency's Web site last month.
CDC policy currently advocates that those with a diagnosis inform blood relatives to be tested, but some families have an easier time discussing these issues than others. The agency wants to know why.
The study also will look at what factors make it easier or harder for those who need to be tested to actually do so, and the ways that physicians can effectively communicate with patients about the need to tell family members.
Agency policy also calls on doctors to use medical histories to identify patients who should have their iron levels checked. The project will attempt to determine how this can be done more effectively.
Note: This item originally appeared at http://www.ama-assn.org/amednews/2005/02/28/hlbf0228.htm.
