Cancer is a genetic disease

Cancer is a genetic disease.
When actress Angelina Jolie went free about her prophylactic spitting image mastectomy, it did not bring to an increased understanding of the genetic risk of titty cancer, researchers say. Although it raised awareness of heart of hearts cancer, exposure to Jolie's fairy tale may have resulted in greater confusion about the relationship between a family history of breast cancer and increased cancer risk, according to the study, published Dec 19, 2013 in the record book Genetics in Medicine testrx tablet. Earlier this year, Jolie revealed that she had both breasts removed after lore that she carried a transmutation in a gene called BRCA1 that is linked to bust and ovarian cancers.

Women with mutations in that gene and the BRCA2 gene have a five times higher gamble of soul cancer and a 10 to 30 times higher imperil of developing ovarian cancer than those without the mutations. For the study, researchers surveyed more than 2500 Americans. About 75 percent were au courant of Jolie's story, the investigators found. But fewer than 10 percent of the respondents could correctly surrejoinder questions about the BRCA gene changing that Jolie carries and the normal woman's hazard of developing bosom cancer.

So "Ms Jolie's trim recital was prominently featured throughout the media and was a occur to conscript form communicators and educators to communicate about the nuanced issues around genetic testing, peril and preventive surgery," study be first author Dina Borzekowski, a research professor in the University of Maryland School of Public Health's jurisdiction of behavior and community health, said in a university report release. However, it "feels in the manner of it was a missed moment to educate the trade about a complex but rare health situation".

About half of the examination respondents incorrectly thought that a fall short of of family history of cancer was associated with a lessen than average personal risk. Among population who had at least one close relative develop cancer, those who knew about Jolie's involvement were less likely than those unmindful of her story to estimate their own cancer jeopardy as higher than average, 39 percent versus 59 percent. That's a concern, another researcher said.

And "Since many more women without a kind intelligence exhibit breast cancer each year than those with, it is leading that women don't feel falsely reassured by a annulling family history," swot co-author Dr Debra Roter, guide of the Center for Genomic Literacy and Communication at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, said in the news programme release. The researchers also found that 57 percent of women who knew about Jolie's untruth said they would have like surgery if they knew they had a imperfect BRCA gene.

Nearly three-quarters of women and men in the enquiry felt Jolie did the swiftly sentiment by going public about her experience. Cases of mamma cancer linked to a BRCA gene evolution are extremely rare. In the United States, a woman's danger of ever getting breast cancer if she does not have a BRCA metamorphosis is between 5 percent and 15 percent the smoke store bermuda. While celebrities can assistance originate awareness of health issues by sharing their own experiences, it's high-level to help the custom understand and use the information about diagnosis and treatment contained in these stories, the researchers concluded.