Stress May Double Risk of Breast Cancer

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Stress may double risk of breast cancer, study shows

By Jeremy Laurance Health Editor. The Independent UK.

 

25 September 2003

 

Stress caused by conflicts at home or work may increase the risk of

breast cancer, scientists said yesterday.

 

A 24-year study of women in Sweden, which began in the late 1960s,

has shown that those who reported high levels of stress at the

start - including tension, fear, anxiety and sleeplessness - were

twice as likely to develop breast cancer as those with low levels of

stress.

 

But the study's lead author, Osten Helgesson, warned that the

findings were not definitive and that women should not blame

themselves for their cancer - a common problem among patients with

the disease. The results were presented to the European Cancer

Conference in Copenhagen yesterday.

 

The researchers from the Sahlgrenska Academy in Sweden interviewed

1,350 healthy women in 1968 and asked them if they had suffered

stress for a month or longer in the previous five years. Over the

next two and a half decades they found that of 456 women who had

experienced stress, 24 (5.3 per cent) developed breast cancer. Of

894 women who said they suffered no stress, 23 (2.5 per cent)

developed breast cancer.

 

Scientists have examined the link between stress and cancer for more

than a decade. Despite a series of studies, no clear findings have

emerged. Dr Helgesson, a GP from Gothenburg in Sweden and a doctoral

student at the Sahlgrenska Academy, said he believed his study was a

stepping stone on the way to establishing whether stress could

predict cancer.

 

If so, women suffering from stress could be selected for preventive

treatment or early detection such as screening.

 

Dr Helgesson said: " Although our study does show a significant

association between stress and breast cancer, I would emphasis that

more research needs to be carried out before it can be said that

stress definitely increases a risk.

 

" Ours is one of only a very small number of prospective studies, and

although our findings are significant, more and larger prospective

studies need to be done. "

 

The women in the study were interviewed in 1968 and asked whether

they had experienced stress for a month or longer in the previous

five years. They had follow-up examinations in 1974-75, 1980-81 and

1992-93, but they were not asked about stress again. The study

therefore relates to stress that they experienced during one period

of their lives in the mid-1960s.

 

Dr Helgesson told the conference that the findings had taken account

of differences such as weight, smoking, drinking, family history and

whether the women had children, all of which are known to affect the

risk of breast cancer.

 

Britain's leading expert on stress and cancer, Professor Amanda

Ramirez of Guy's and St Thomas' Hospitals, London, who has studied

the relationship between the two for more than a decade, said recent

research had failed to show a link.

 

" This study stands on its own. Its methodology is questionable and

it is out of step. "

 

'I developed disease after suffering panic attacks'

 

When Mary Morrissey was diagnosed with breast cancer in 1999 at the

age of 40, her first thought was that stress must be the cause. " I

had six sisters and a mother who were all alive and none had cancer.

So there was no family history. I had breastfed my children and been

active all my life. I thought it had to be stress, " she said.

 

She had good reason for thinking so. Ten years earlier she had gone

through an acrimonious divorce, which included a custody battle for

her three children. It was a traumatic time. " Someone told me it

takes ten years for a cancer to develop - I was divorced in 1990 and

diagnosed in 1999, " she said. " I do think that was the reason for my

cancer. I suffered panic attacks and my stress levels were very

high. After the divorce I was on my own for 10 years with the three

children, doing a full-time degree and working seven days a week. "

 

Today, Ms Morrissey is free of the disease. She still takes drugs

for the cancer but has suffered no side-effects. She walks 30 miles

a week and has lost 24kg (53lb) since her treatment was completed.

 

She has more energy now, she said, and she takes care to avoid

stress. " I have learnt a great deal in the last decade or so, " she

said. " I won't allow things to upset me. I go to the gym and to

meditation classes to keep my head in order because if you don't do

that everything else falls apart. But I feel very well. "

 

 

25 September 2003 08:50 Michael Eaglemeare