THURSDAY, Dec. 15, 2016 (HealthDay Information) -- After actress Angelina Jolie had each breasts eliminated as a result of she confronted a heightened threat for breast most cancers, there was a spike within the variety of ladies who have been examined for the genes that increase that threat. However, there was no corresponding enhance in mastectomy charges, researchers report.
Jolie's 2013 announcement about her choice was delivered in an editorial in The New York Occasions.
"That editorial was broadly shared on social media, and we noticed a bounce in BRCA gene testing the day after the editorial," mentioned lead researcher Sunita Desai. She is a fellow within the division of well being care coverage at Harvard Medical Faculty in Boston.
"Within the two weeks after the editorial, we discovered a 64 % bounce in gene testing, in contrast with gene testing within the two weeks earlier than the editorial, and a $13.5 million enhance in spending on BRCA testing on this inhabitants," she mentioned. "The elevated charges continued all year long."
Though this research did not show that Jolie's choice triggered extra ladies to get examined, her editorial seemingly had that impact, Desai mentioned.
"Considerate and well-delivered celeb endorsements could be efficient in elevating consciousness and use of preventive care," she defined.
To measure the impact of the editorial, Desai and her colleague Dr. Anupam Jena, an affiliate professor of well being care coverage at Harvard, collected information on greater than 9 million U.S. ladies aged 18 to 64. The researchers then analyzed charges of BRCA testing and mastectomies earlier than and after Jolie's editorial appeared in Could 2013.
Testing charges rose from zero.71 per 100,000 ladies within the 15 enterprise days earlier than the editorial ran, to 1.13 per 100,000 ladies within the 15 enterprise days after the editorial ran. This was an absolute each day enhance of zero.45 assessments per 100,000 ladies, Desai mentioned.
The 12 months earlier than, BRCA take a look at charges remained principally unchanged throughout the identical time interval, the research authors famous.
Nevertheless, the bounce in BRCA take a look at charges was not accompanied by a rise in mastectomy charges, Desai famous.
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