The FINANCIAL — After hearing about film star Angelina Jolie's double mastectomy, a growing number of U.S. women now say they may ask their doctors whether the same preventive measure is right for them, according to a new Harris Interactive/HealthDay poll.
Almost all women (86 percent) had heard of Jolie's double mastectomy, found the survey ofnearly 1,100 U.S. women. And 5 percent of those women said they would seek medical advice on having a preventive mastectomy or ovary removal because of Jolie's decision.
That may seem like a small percentage, but it translates to about 6 million women nationwide, noted Harris Poll chairman Humphrey Taylor.
"The survey finds that the news of Angelina Jolie's double mastectomy has had an impact on many American women," Taylor said.
Back in May, Jolie announced that she had undergone a double mastectomy and also planned to have her ovaries removed, after learning that she carried a gene mutation linked to breast and ovarian cancers.
Jolie, 38, carries a mutation in a gene called BRCA1. Defects in that gene and another, called BRCA2, substantially raise a woman's lifetime risks of breast and ovarian cancers — to a roughly 60 percent chance of developing breast cancer, and a 15 to 40 percent risk of ovarian cancer, according to the American Cancer Society.
By comparison, the average U.S. woman has a 12 percent chance of being diagnosed with breast cancer over her lifetime, and only a 1.4 percent risk of ovarian cancer, according to Harris Interactive Inc.
Experts stress that most breast cancers are not inherited, and gene mutations — mainly in the BRCA genes — account for only about 5 to 10 percent of all breast cancers.
And while many women in the new survey might have been interested in BRCA gene testing, most do not need it, experts said.
"Genetic testing is only recommended for women at high risk," said Debbie Saslow, director of breast and gynecologic cancer for the American Cancer Society in Atlanta.
Women at high risk either have a personal history or a strong family history of breast or ovarian cancers, and the survey found that interest in getting the gene test was somewhat higher among women who felt they had a family history of breast cancer versus those who did not have such histories.
"Strong" family history involves a number of factors, Saslow said, including the age at which relatives were diagnosed.
For example, "if your grandmother was diagnosed with breast cancer at the age of 70, that's not a reason to have genetic testing," Saslow said.
Certain other family history patterns, though, are linked to a higher risk of carrying a cancer-linked BRCA mutation. Some of those include having two first-degree relatives with breast cancer, one of whom was diagnosed at age 50 or younger; a first-degree relative with cancer in both breasts; or two or more relatives with ovarian cancer at any age.
The cost of a BRCA test, at around $4,000, could deter some women. Insurance plans often cover the test if it's recommended by a health provider — but even then, women may have a steep co-pay. In the survey, one-third of the women said they would "very likely" have a BRCA test if it were fully covered by insurance. Only 2 percent said they would if they had to foot the bill, according to Harris Interactive Inc.
Of women who do undergo BRCA testing, only a small percentage are found to have a mutation, Connerty said. But they are still at greater-than-average risk of cancer. In general, experts say women with BRCA mutations should have their ovaries removed by age 40, because there is no way to detect ovarian cancer early. And that surgery also helps cut a woman's breast cancer risk, because removing the ovaries takes away the body's main source of estrogen. Estrogen has long been tied to increased breast cancer risk, according to Harris Interactive Inc.
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