Who are Ashkenazi Jews?

Ashkenazic Jews are the Jews of France, Germany, and Eastern Europe and their descendants. The adjective “Ashkenazic” and corresponding nouns, Ashkenazi (singular) and Ashkenazim (plural) are derived from the Hebrew word “Ashkenaz,” which is used to refer to Germany. Most American Jews today are Ashkenazim, descended from Jews who emigrated from Germany and Eastern Europe from the mid 1800s to the early 1900s. The pages in this site are written from the Ashkenazic Jewish perspective.

What is the BRCA gene? 

Women who carry the BRCA gene mutation face a much greater chance of developing breast and / or ovarian cancers. More than 200 mutations have been identified, three of which are typical to Ashkenazi Jews. There is a 2.5% risk of carrying this mutation.

BRCA STATS

1 in 40

Ashkenazi Jews – men and women – that carry a BRCA gene mutation

10%

Ashkenazi Jewish women that are diagnosed with breast cancer in the US who have a BRCA 1 or 2 mutation

1 in 800

People in the general population that have a BRCA 1 or 2 mutation

19%

Jewish male breast cancer cases that carry the germline BRCA mutation

12%

The average woman in the United States has about a 12 percent risk of developing breast cancer over a 90-year life span

15% to 40%

Women with a BRCA1 or BRCA2 gene mutation have a lifetime risk of 15 to 40 percent for developing ovarian cancer

79%

The 5-year survival rate for relatives of carriers of BRCA1 mutations