The story gained worldwide media attention and it seems to have a positive effect in raising awareness for breast cancer and reconstruction.
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“This is the first prospective report to prove the media’s effect on the health care-related issue of breast cancer among the general public, which was based on a serendipitous design: the initial poll on breast reconstruction was conducted a month before Ms. Jolie’s announcement, triggering a timely repetition thereafter in a second poll”, David Benjamin Lumenta, MD, principal researcher in plastic and reconstructive surgery at Medical University of Graz in Austria, said in a press release.
The first poll found that 57.6% of respondents were aware that breast reconstruction was possible with the use of a patient’s own tissue.
This unique research suggests that such broad media coverage of a high-profile case creates a “tipping point” – when, taking this example, the public’s knowledge about a particular health topic becomes widespread.
Jolie Pitt made headlines in Might 2013 was she introduced that she had undergone a double mastectomy as a result of she had examined optimistic for a mutation within the BRCA1 gene.
For the new study, the researchers used data collected from 1,000 women recruited online in March 2013 – coincidentally before Jolie’s announcement.
Following the announcement, there was an increase of four percentage points in the proportion of women aware that reconstructive breast surgery is possible after the surgical removal of one or both breasts (from 88.9 to 92.6 per cent).
About 20 percent of the women surveyed also said that the media’s coverage of Jolie’s announcement had made them “deal more intensively with the topic of breast cancer”.
In early 2013, Jolie underwent 3 months of medical procedures at the Pink Lotus Breast Center in California, including a double mastectomy and reconstruction.
In a 2013 essay in the New York Times, Jolie discussed her family history of breast cancer and the specific genetic variant that put her at an increased risk not just for breast cancer but for ovarian cancer, too. Her announcement generated appreciable media consideration.
She said her beloved mother died of cancer at 56 and she herself carried the “faulty” BRCA1 gene mutation. However, she underlines the fact that every woman is different and “the most important thing is to learn about the options and choose what is right for you personally”. BRCA 1 and 2 are the genetic variants that increase the risk of breast and ovarian cancer. “I wanted to write this to tell other women that the decision to have a mastectomy was not easy”.
The ‘Angelina Jolie effect’ is a real phenomenon, and has increased awareness of breast cancer treatment and surgery, a study has found. Since undergoing surgery to have both breasts removed, Jolie has also had her ovaries and her fallopian tubes removed.
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Ultimately, however, Jolie Pitt’s discussion of her own experience has seemed to get more women talking to their doctors about breast and ovarian cancers, one of the study authors said in a statement.
