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.