Ninety four percent (n = 192) of the African American men and women involved in the study reported that they knew little about genetics. However, data suggested that most were aware that healthy parents could bear a child with a hereditary disease; were aware of the implications of consanguinity and late parity on the expression of heritable disease/conditions and birth outcomes; and were aware of the influence of the environment on multifactorial genetic disorders (e.g., asthma, congestive heart disease, diabetes) (Table 2). In addition, when questioned about tests used for genetic analysis, most indicated that they were aware of tests used in newborn screening.
