Psychological impact of testing for thrombophilic alterations.

We investigated the psychological impact of testing for the presence of thrombophilic alterations. The enrolled subjects received counseling from a physician before blood sampling and after receiving results, with a view to provide clear information about the aim of thrombophilia screening (TS). Participants were requested to complete a pre-test questionnaire during this interview and a post-test questionnaire 20 days after receiving the TS results. One hundred ninety-seven subjects completed the pretest questionnaire and 140/197 (71.1%) returned the post-test one. The TS results were altered in 36 (25.7%, R506Q mutation n = 19; G20210A mutation n = 9; antithrombin deficiency n = 1; LAC phenomenon n = 4; hyperhomocysteinemia n = 3) and normal in 104 subjects. We assessed: perceived health status (PHS), state of anxiety, health fears, depressive reactions, moods, perceived well-being, and perceived daily-life stress. For both groups, both at pre- and post-test, none of the psychological variable scores showed significant worsening, regardless of whether TS resulted altered or normal. Anxiety significantly (p