Coping With the Spectre of Cardiac Mortality: The Role of Genetic Testing

A diagnosis of cardiovascular disease increases death awareness by raising the possibility of sudden death. Engaging sociological literature on patient experiences with terror management theory, we examine how patients diagnosed with cardiac disease turn to online communities to interpret the possibility of cardiac death. Drawing on 33 semi-structured interviews with individuals diagnosed with a cardiac condition and who have undergone genetic testing as part of its diagnosis or treatment, we find that respondents turn to biomedicine in the hope that medical interventions will prevent or postpone death. Respondents were motivated by anxiety to opt in genetic testing even if the results were unlikely to change diagnosis, treatment or prognosis. Genetic testing reinforced a biomedical world view where medical care can optimise the quality of life through prevention, including for their relatives. Their biological kin, however, refused to undergo genetic testing in absence of a cardiac diagnosis.