EDMONTON-In the flurry of news reports that followed the revelation that Angelina Jolie underwent a double mastectomy, many left out a crucial detail: the gene mutation that led to the actress decision to undergo surgery is relatively rare.

Thats the finding of a University of Alberta researcher currently working on a book about how celebrities impact peoples health and other lifestyle decisions.

Sixty-eight per cent of articles did not discuss the rarity of the gene, which is very important since her situation is actually tremendously rare, said Timothy Caulfield, Canada Research Chair in Health Law and Policy.

The good news is they did a fairly good job when they talked about the science and talked about the risks associated with preventive mastectomy.

Jolie revealed her decision in a piece published in the May 14, 2013 edition of the New York Times. She wrote that her mother had died of breast cancer at the age of 56 and she had inherited a mutation in the BRCA 1 gene. Doctors had estimated she had an 87-per-cent risk of breast cancer. She underwent a preventive double mastectomy, which reduced her breast cancer risk to less than five per cent.

Jolie herself wrote that, Only a fraction of breast cancers result from an inherited gene mutation.

Alberta researchers say 95 per cent of women who have breast cancer never test positive for the gene mutation.

In their research, Caulfield and two others analyzed 103 news and opinion pieces published in major American, British and Canadian newspapers, including the New York Times, the Globe and Mail and the Guardian.

The study did not include the Edmonton Journal or Calgary Herald, which ran locally written articles about Jolies mastectomy that mentioned the rarity of her condition.

The researchers combed through the articles, looking for various themes such as the cost and drawbacks of preventive mastectomies or mentions of alternatives to surgery for breast cancer prevention. From there, more analysis was done to identify the tone of the articles.

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Rarity of Angelina Jolie’s gene mutation condition under-reported, says researcher

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