Researchers have found that Bahamian women have the world’s highest prevalence of the BRCA1 gene mutation, putting them at a greater risk for breast cancer than any other population.
The Bahamas Breast Cancer Initiative Foundation (BBCIF) has been working to facilitate further research and prevention strategies, such as securing a genetic counsellor and data-base coordinator. These initiatives would allow lead researchers in the study, Dr Steven Narod, of Toronto University, and Dr John Lunn, Medical Director of the BBCIF, to undertake critical follow-up projects.
According to published reports, Bahamian women show aggressive strains of breast cancer at an unusually early age. Statistics show 34 per cent of Bahamian women are diagnosed with breast cancer under the age of 44 compared with only 12 per cent of American women.
The global average is five to six per cent: 20 per cent of the Bahamian sample tested positive for the abnormal gene, according to Dr Steven Narod, who collaborated in the study and is so convinced of the project’s value, and it’s potential for important discoveries, that he has committed 15 per cent of his time free of charge
