Is there a “pandemic effect” on individuals’ willingness to take genetic tests?

Abstract

In this cross-sectional, semi-longitudinal and quasi-experimental study, our goal was to determine the effect of data storage conditions on willingness to take a genetic test. We compared individuals’ preferences regarding how they want to store health data collected from genetic tests through two survey experiments fielded in Switzerland in March 2020 and January 2022. We tested for differences whether genetic data are presented as private goods or public goods. Results confirm our initial research expectation: more control over storage increases willingness, so does framing genetic data as private good. However, they also show that the willingness to take a genetic test has noticeably increased between 2020 and 2022. Our results point toward a “pandemic effect” which would have increased willingness take a genetic test, nevertheless, more data are needed to understand this putative effect.