Cancer is a genetic disease

Cancer is a genetic disease.
When actress Angelina Jolie went celebrated about her restraining magnify mastectomy, it did not cable to an increased understanding of the genetic risk of teat cancer, researchers say. Although it raised awareness of bosom cancer, exposure to Jolie's narrative may have resulted in greater confusion about the associate between a family history of breast cancer and increased cancer risk, according to the study, published Dec 19, 2013 in the documentation Genetics in Medicine lexington discount drugs al. Earlier this year, Jolie revealed that she had both breasts removed after scholarship that she carried a variation in a gene called BRCA1 that is linked to titty and ovarian cancers.

Women with mutations in that gene and the BRCA2 gene have a five times higher chance of heart of hearts cancer and a 10 to 30 times higher endanger of developing ovarian cancer than those without the mutations. For the study, researchers surveyed more than 2500 Americans. About 75 percent were cognizant of Jolie's story, the investigators found. But fewer than 10 percent of the respondents could correctly rejoin questions about the BRCA gene evolving that Jolie carries and the conventional woman's jeopardize of developing boob cancer.

So "Ms Jolie's healthfulness outline was prominently featured throughout the media and was a imperil to prepare vigorousness communicators and educators to communicate about the nuanced issues around genetic testing, hazard and preventive surgery," study guide author Dina Borzekowski, a research professor in the University of Maryland School of Public Health's area of behavior and community health, said in a university front-page news release. However, it "feels for example it was a missed possibility to educate the renowned about a complex but rare health situation".

About half of the scan respondents incorrectly thought that a need of family history of cancer was associated with a tone down than average personal risk. Among hoi polloi who had at least one close relative develop cancer, those who knew about Jolie's be familiar with were less likely than those incognizant of her story to estimate their own cancer peril as higher than average, 39 percent versus 59 percent. That's a concern, another researcher said.

And "Since many more women without a division relation arise breast cancer each year than those with, it is respected that women don't feel falsely reassured by a cancelling family history," enquiry co-author Dr Debra Roter, supervisor of the Center for Genomic Literacy and Communication at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, said in the info release. The researchers also found that 57 percent of women who knew about Jolie's news said they would have alike surgery if they knew they had a unsound BRCA gene.

Nearly three-quarters of women and men in the scrutinize felt Jolie did the title gizmo by going public about her experience. Cases of chest cancer linked to a BRCA gene variant are extremely rare. In the United States, a woman's jeopardy of ever getting breast cancer if she does not have a BRCA modifying is between 5 percent and 15 percent garciniacambogia.scriptovore.com. While celebrities can serve round up awareness of health issues by sharing their own experiences, it's effective to help the following understand and use the information about diagnosis and treatment contained in these stories, the researchers concluded.