AFP/AFP/GETTY IMAGES
Angelina Jolie shared her decision to have a preventive double mastectomy and breast reconstruction last May in a New York Times op-ed. Despite hearing about the actress' announcement, most people aren't aware of how genetic mutations contribute to breast cancer, a new study found.
RELATED STORIES
- EXCLUSIVE: Angelina Jolie's doctor says star's double mastectomy will have 'tremendously lasting impact' and save lives
- Angelina Jolie’s doctor to speak on breast reconstruction
- Angelina Jolie tops Forbes' list of highest-paid actresses with earnings of $33 million in last year
- Angelina Jolie scouts locations in Hawaii for new film ‘Unbroken’
Angelina Jolie's decision to tell the world about her preventive double mastectomy may have raised some awareness — but has also generated plenty of confusion.
Most people who heard of Jolie's story still aren't clear on how gene mutations affect the risk of breast cancer, according to a new study by the University of Maryland School of Public Health.
In an online survey, researchers polled more than 2,500 people in the three weeks after the actress' surprise announcement last May via a New York Times op-ed.
Of the national sample — which included 48% men and a range of ethnic and socioeconomic backgrounds and ages — 75% had heard Jolie's story, but fewer than 10% could correctly answer questions on BRCA gene mutations and breast cancer risk.
In her op-ed, Jolie wrote that she underwent genetic testing and found she had a "faulty" gene which, combined with her family history, put her at an 87% risk of developing breast cancer.
Mutations of the BRCA1 and BRCA2 genes can exponentially increase a woman's lifetime risk of breast cancer, and can also raise her risk of ovarian cancer. While roughly 12% of women in the general population will develop breast cancer at some point in their lives, an estimated 55% to 65% of women with a BRCA1 mutation and 45% of those with a BRCA2 mutation will develop cancer by the time they're 70, according to Cancer.gov.
But people do not realize the genetic mutations are quite rare, said Dina L.G. Borzekowski, a professor of behavioral and community health at UMD, who led the study.
"In the general population, one in 300 to one in 500 women have (the mutations)," Borzekowski told the Daily News. "I think people were also not understanding that breast cancer is relatively common, and that the mutation only contributes to some of the cases that are out there."
Only 5% to 10% of breast cancers can be attributed to genetic mutation, Borzekowski said.
People without a family history of breast cancer tended to underestimate their risk (or for men a close female relative’s risk) of developing it, the study found.
"One in eight women will develop breast cancer," Borzekowski said. "In many cases it's not known why a woman gets it."
Over 70% of people surveyed approved of Jolie's decision to go public. However, only 3.4% of respondents reported actually having read her original op-ed.
Most got the news second- or third-hand from other media sources, including newspapers, TV, gossip magazines and the Internet.
It was a “missed opportunity” by health care providers and the media, who should bear more responsibility for explaining complicated health and medical issues to the public, the study's authors concluded.
"I, along with my coauthors, really felt that (Jolie) did something very courageous and remarkable," Borzekowski said. "Celebrities can do a great job in raising awareness abiout different diseases or illnesses, and she did that.
"The problem is, she was talking about something very difficult (that) people have a hard time understanding."
Read more: http://www.nydailynews.com/life-style/health/confused-breast-cancer-risk-angelina-jolie-mastectomy-story-study-article-1.1553352#ixzz2o2I85w65
Despite the widely covered news of Angelina Jolie’s preventive mastectomy earlier this year, much confusion still exists over the risks associated with the BRCA gene mutation or having a family history of breast cancer, Counsel and Heal reported.
In May, Jolie revealed in a New York Times editorial that she had chosen to undergo a preventive mastectomy and reconstruction after learning that she was a carrier of the BRCA1 gene, which has been linked to a 65 percent increased risk of breast cancer.
In an attempt to gauge whether Jolie’s announcement had led to widespread awareness about the risks of breast cancer, researchers from the University of Maryland School of Public Health conducted a survey of 2,500 women – about three-quarters of whom were familiar with Jolie’s story.
However, despite their knowledge of Jolie’s decision, fewer than 10 percent of women surveyed were able to correctly answer questions about the BRCA mutation and approximately 50 percent of women incorrectly believed that a woman’s risk for breast cancer was extremely low if the disease did not run in her family.
"Since many more women without a family history develop breast cancer each year than those with, it is important that women don't feel falsely reassured by a negative family history," study 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 a press release.
Despite the fact that most women surveyed still didn’t have a firm grasp of some of the risks associated with breast cancer, 75 percent of study participants still believed Jolie did the right thing by sharing her ordeal.
