The impact on socio-demographic characteristics of clients seeking genetic counseling for hereditary breast and ovarian cancer due to the outing of Angelina Jolie.

e13119Background: The purpose of this study was to evaluate socio-demographic characteristics of clients seeking genetic counseling for hereditary breast and ovarian cancer (HBOC) in Austria. Furthermore, changes of these parameters before and after Angelina Jolie’s (AJ) outing of carrying a BRCA mutation were evaluated. Methods: A total of 268 consecutive clients seeking genetic counseling for HBOC at the Medical University of Vienna, Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Vienna, Austria were included between June 2012 and June 2014. Socio-demographic data and source of information about HBOC and genetic counseling were evaluated. Socio-demographic parameters were compared to the general Austrian population as well as changes in these parameters after AJ’s public outing of carrying a BRCA mutation were analyzed. Results: In general, clients were more frequent female, younger and higher educated in comparison to the Austrian general population (p < 0.001). Furthermore, level of education in participant...