Women exposed to negative life events at greater risk of breast cancer

August 23, 2008

Happiness and optimism may play a role against breast cancer while adverse life events can increase the risk of developing the disease, according to a study by Professor Ronit Peled, at Ben-Gurion University of the Negev in Israel. An article on the study titled "Breast Cancer, Psychological Distress and Life Events among Young Women," was just published in the British journal BMC Cancer (8:245, August 2008).

In the study, researchers questioned women about their life experiences and evaluated their levels of happiness, optimism, anxiety, and depression prior to diagnosis. Researchers used this information to examine the relationship between life events, psychological distress and breast cancer among young women.

A total of 622 women between the ages of 25 and 45 were interviewed: 255 breast cancer patients and 367 healthy women. "The results showed a clear link between outlook and risk of breast cancer, with optimists 25 percent less likely to have developed the disease. Conversely, women who suffered two or more traumatic events had a 62 percent greater risk," Peled said. "Young women who have been exposed to a number of negative life events should be considered an 'at-risk' group for breast cancer and should be treated accordingly."

The researchers indicate that women were interviewed after their diagnosis, which may color their recall of their past emotional state somewhat negatively. However, according to Peled, "We can carefully say that experiencing more than one severe and/or mild to moderate life event is a risk factor for breast cancer among young women. On the other hand, a general feeling of happiness and optimism can play a protective role."

"The mechanism in which the central nervous, hormonal and immune systems interact and how behaviour and external events modulate these three systems is not fully understood," Peled states. "The relationship between happiness and health should be examined in future studies and relevant preventative initiatives should be developed."

Source: Ben-Gurion University of the Negev

3.5 /5 (8 votes)  

Filter


Move the slider to adjust rank threshold, so that you can hide some of the comments.


Display comments: newest first

rmgill
Aug 29, 2008

Rank: not rated yet
As is mentioned in the article, recall bias is too strong of a confounding factor for this study to be of any use. People with a cancer diagnosis will naturally comb through their past lifestyle habits more thoroughly or try and make connections with life events that are in all likelihood unrelated.

This cancer/personality myth that is constantly being propagated by the news media is increasing guilt of individuals diagnosed with cancer and other diseases because they feel that they HAVE to be happy to survive or that their personality is somehow responsible for them getting cancer, almost like they wanted it. This creates additional stress that simply isn't needed. It needs to stop.
Rank 3.5 /5 (8 votes)
Relevant PhysicsForums posts
  • Is Everyday Technology Killing Us?
    createdFeb 08, 2012
  • Exercise and weight loss
    createdFeb 08, 2012
  • Why do we have head aches? Our brains can't feel anything.
    createdFeb 07, 2012
  • "The end of diseases" by David Agus, interview from Daily Show with Jon Stewart
    createdFeb 04, 2012
  • Oncolytic adenovirus
    createdFeb 04, 2012
  • Nutrition label stuffs and diets
    createdFeb 02, 2012
  • More from Physics Forums - Medical Sciences

More news stories

Discovery paves way for salmonella vaccine

(Medical Xpress) -- An international research team led by a University of California, Davis, immunologist has taken an important step toward an effective vaccine against salmonella, a group of increasingly antibiotic-resistant ...

Medicine & Health / Research

created 42 minutes ago | popularity 5 / 5 (2) | comments 0 | with audio podcast

First-of-its-kind stem cell study re-grows healthy heart muscle in heart attack patients

Results from a Cedars-Sinai Heart Institute clinical trial show that treating heart attack patients with an infusion of their own heart-derived cells helps damaged hearts re-grow healthy muscle.

Medicine & Health / Cardiology

created 48 minutes ago | popularity 5 / 5 (1) | comments 2 | with audio podcast

Ovarian cancer arises in fallopian tube of knockout mice

(Medical Xpress) -- The most deadly form of "ovarian" cancer arises in the fallopian tubes – not the ovaries – of knockout mice that lack two genes associated with the disease, said researchers led by Baylor College ...

Medicine & Health / Cancer

created 43 minutes ago | popularity not rated yet | comments 0 | with audio podcast

Smoking bans lead to less, not more, smoking at home: study

Smoking bans in public/workplaces don't drive smokers to light up more at home, suggests a study of four European countries with smoke free legislation, published online in Tobacco Control.

Medicine & Health / Health

created 48 minutes ago | popularity not rated yet | comments 0

UK cases of progressive sight loss condition set to rise a third by 2020

New cases of the progressive sight loss condition, known as age-related macular degeneration, or AMD for short, are set to rise by a third in the UK over the next decade, reveals research published online in the British Jo ...

Medicine & Health / Diseases

created 47 minutes ago | popularity not rated yet | comments 0


Time of year important in projections of climate change effects on ecosystems

(PhysOrg.com) -- Does it matter whether long periods of hot weather, such as last year's heat wave that gripped the U.S. Midwest, happen in June or July, August or September?

Medical school link to wide variations in pass rate for specialist exam

Wide variations in doctors' pass rates, for a professional exam that is essential for one type of specialty training, seem to be linked to the particular medical school where the student graduated, indicates research published ...

Scientists discover reason for Mt. Hood's non-explosive nature

(PhysOrg.com) -- For a half-million years, Mount Hood has towered over the landscape, but unlike some of its cousins in Oregon’s Cascade Mountains and many other volcanoes around the Pacific “Rim ...

Missing dark matter located: Intergalactic space is filled with dark matter

Researchers at the University of Tokyo’s Institute for the Physics and Mathematics of the Universe (IPMU) and Nagoya University used large-scale computer simulations and recent observational data of gravitational ...

Plants use circadian rhythms to prepare for battle with insects

In a study of the molecular underpinnings of plants' pest resistance, Rice University biologists have shown that plants both anticipate daytime raids by hungry insects and make sophisticated preparations to ...

Sensing self and non-self: New research into immune tolerance

At the most basic level, the immune system must distinguish self from non-self, that is, it must discriminate between the molecular signatures of invading pathogens (non-self antigens) and cellular constituents that usually ...