Psychological Stress May Increase Risk of Breast Cancer

By Megan Rauscher
NEW YORK SEPT 12, 2008 (Reuters Health) - Results of a case-control study support an interaction between severe life events, psychological distress, and breast cancer. The findings appear in the BioMed Central journal BMC Cancer, published online on August 22.
"Young women who are exposed to severe life events more than once should be considered as a risk group for breast cancer and treated accordingly," first author Dr. Ronit Peled said in a telephone interview with Reuters Health.
Dr. Peled, from Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, Beer Sheva, Israel, and colleagues studied 255 women younger than age 45 years who had been diagnosed with breast cancer, comparing them with 367 healthy women of a similar age.
The team evaluated interactions between breast cancer and severe life events -- such as loss of a parent or divorce of parents before age 20, or loss of a close relative or spouse -- and mild to moderate life events -- e.g., separation from a spouse, loss of a job, an economic crisis, or severe illness in a close relative.
Multivariate analysis revealed a positive association (odds ratio, 1.62) between exposure to more than one adverse life event and breast cancer. "It wasn't enough to be exposed to one life event, a woman had to be exposed to more than one event," Dr. Peled said.
Compared to healthy women, women with breast cancer also demonstrated significantly higher scores of depression and significantly lower scores of happiness and optimism.
Moreover, the results showed a negative association (odds ratio, 0.75) between happiness and optimism and breast cancer. General feelings of happiness and optimism seemed to offer protection against breast cancer, Dr. Peled noted. "The more you are happy and feel optimistic with your life, the less the probability of developing breast cancer."
SOURCE:
BMC Cancer 2008;8.