Depressed People More Likely To Get Cancer

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Misty

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Depressed People More Likely To Get Cancer

5-29-3

 

LONDON (ANI) -- People who are prone to stress and depression are at

an increased risk of cancer.

 

This finding, involving over 60,000 people will add to the

controversy over whether purely psychological factors such as

stress, anxiety and depression can trigger cancer, according to a

report in New Scientist.

 

Part of the problem with this kind of study is that it is hard to

exclude with certainty the influence of behavioural factors, such as

lack of self-care, poor diet and smoking.

 

A team of psychiatrists led by Arnstein Mykletun at the University

of Bergen in Norway followed up 62,591 people. They found that those

who scored highly in an anxiety test in 1995 were about 25 percent

more likely to have pre-malignancies, the report said.

 

Previous studies have also found an association between

psychological stress and two specific types of tumours, lymphomas

and malignant melanomas. These results are intriguing, as lymphomas

and melanomas, are linked with immune system dysfunction.

 

One theory is that psychological states like stress, anxiety or

depression lower immune activity, compromising the body's constant

surveillance for pre-malignant or cancerous cells and thus allowing

cancers to grow, the report noted.

 

Support for this theory comes from another study presented at the

San Francisco meeting. Sandra Nunes's team at the State University

of Londrina in Brazil compared 40 depressed adults and found that in

the depressed patients, there were dramatic reductions in immune

functions, including white blood cell activity and antibody

responses, it added.

 

2001 ANI-Asian News International. All rights reserved.

[Guest guest]

----Original Message-----

Misty L. Trepke [mistytrepke]

[s-A] Depressed People More Likely To Get Cancer

 

Comments?

Misty

http://www..com

Depressed People More Likely To Get Cancer

 

This would kind of go along with the theory that laughing is good for

your health.

Carol