Cancer is a genetic disease

Cancer is a genetic disease.
When actress Angelina Jolie went blatant about her serum double mastectomy, it did not lead to an increased understanding of the genetic risk of mamma cancer, researchers say. Although it raised awareness of breast cancer, exposure to Jolie's tall tale 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 dossier Genetics in Medicine continue. Earlier this year, Jolie revealed that she had both breasts removed after wisdom that she carried a mutation in a gene called BRCA1 that is linked to soul and ovarian cancers.

Women with mutations in that gene and the BRCA2 gene have a five times higher gamble of breast 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 informed of Jolie's story, the investigators found prosolution gel kamp-lintfort top. But fewer than 10 percent of the respondents could correctly replication questions about the BRCA gene transfiguring that Jolie carries and the typical woman's risk of developing breast cancer.

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

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

And "Since many more women without a dynasty history develop breast cancer each year than those with, it is momentous that women don't feel falsely reassured by a negative family history," over 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 newscast release. The researchers also found that 57 percent of women who knew about Jolie's book said they would have similar surgery if they knew they had a impaired BRCA gene.

Nearly three-quarters of women and men in the survey felt Jolie did the moral thing by going public about her experience. Cases of breast cancer linked to a BRCA gene transforming are extremely rare. In the United States, a woman's risk of ever getting breast cancer if she does not have a BRCA mutant is between 5 percent and 15 percent click this link. While celebrities can help engender awareness of health issues by sharing their own experiences, it's important to help the prominent understand and use the information about diagnosis and treatment contained in these stories, the researchers concluded.