Cancer is a genetic disease

Cancer is a genetic disease.
When actress Angelina Jolie went accessible about her prevention double mastectomy, it did not lead to an increased understanding of the genetic risk of teat cancer, researchers say. Although it raised awareness of breast cancer, exposure to Jolie's chronicle may have resulted in greater confusion about the link between a family history of breast cancer and increased cancer risk, according to the study, published Dec 19, 2013 in the daily Genetics in Medicine provillus. Earlier this year, Jolie revealed that she had both breasts removed after scholarship that she carried a mutation in a gene called BRCA1 that is linked to chest and ovarian cancers.

Women with mutations in that gene and the BRCA2 gene have a five times higher peril of breast cancer and a 10 to 30 times higher chance 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 effect. But fewer than 10 percent of the respondents could correctly riposte questions about the BRCA gene modification that Jolie carries and the typical woman's risk of developing breast cancer.

So "Ms Jolie's strength story was prominently featured throughout the media and was a chance to mobilize health communicators and educators to drill about the nuanced issues around genetic testing, risk and preventive surgery," study superintend author Dina Borzekowski, a research professor in the University of Maryland School of Public Health's activity of behavior and community health, said in a university news release. However, it "feels for instance it was a missed opportunity to educate the public about a complex but rare health situation," she added.

About half of the enquiry respondents incorrectly thought that a lack of family history of cancer was associated with a tone down than average personal risk. Among people who had at least one close relative expand cancer, those who knew about Jolie's experience were less likely than those unaware of her story to estimate their own cancer jeopardize as higher than average, 39 percent versus 59 percent. That's a concern, another researcher said.

And "Since many more women without a lineage history develop breast cancer each year than those with, it is momentous that women don't feel falsely reassured by a negative family history," enquiry co-author Dr Debra Roter, director of the Center for Genomic Literacy and Communication at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, said in the intelligence release. The researchers also found that 57 percent of women who knew about Jolie's falsehood said they would have similar surgery if they knew they had a defective BRCA gene.

Nearly three-quarters of women and men in the survey felt Jolie did the fact thing by going public about her experience. Cases of breast cancer linked to a BRCA gene altering are extremely rare. In the United States, a woman's risk of ever getting tit cancer if she does not have a BRCA mutation is between 5 percent and 15 percent sex booster oil. While celebrities can labourer raise awareness of health issues by sharing their own experiences, it's important to daily the public understand and use the information about diagnosis and treatment contained in these stories, the researchers concluded.