Investigating attitudes toward prenatal diagnosis and fetal therapy for spinal muscular atrophy

Abstract

OBJECTIVE: In utero SMA treatment could improve survival and neurologic outcomes. We investigated the attitudes of patients and parents with SMA regarding prenatal diagnosis, fetal therapies, and clinical trials. METHODS: A multidisciplinary team designed a questionnaire that Cure SMA electronically distributed to parents and patients (>18 years old) affected by SMA. Multivariable ordinal logistic regression was used to analyze associations between respondent characteristics and attitudes. RESULTS: Of 114 respondents (60% of whom were patients), only 2 were prenatally diagnosed. However, 91% supported prenatal testing and 81% felt there had been a delay in their diagnosis. Overall, 55% would enroll in a phase I trial for fetal antisense oligonucleotide (ASO) while 79% would choose an established fetal ASO/small molecule therapy. Overall, 61% would enroll in fetal gene therapy trials and 87% would choose fetal gene therapies. Patients were less likely to enroll in a fetal gene therapy trial than parents enrolling a child (OR 0.31, p < 0.05). Older parental age and believing there had been excessive delay in diagnosis were associated with an interest in enrolling in a fetal ASO trial (OR 1.04, 7.38, respectively, p < 0.05). CONCLUSION: In utero therapies are promising for severe genetic diseases. Patients with SMA and their parents view prenatal testing and therapies positively, with gene therapy being favored.