Stress may raise breast cancer risk in young women

The best way to protect oneself against the disease is still to eat well, be physically active, and follow screening recommendations. Among 255 women between 25 and 45 years old who had been diagnosed with breast cancer, Peled and her team investigated the role of severe life events, such as losing a parent before age 20.

The control group had 367 women of the same age who were free from the disease.

They asked the women whether they had experienced any severe life events, such as loss of a spouse or a close relative, as well as events considered to be mild or moderately stressful, such as severe illness, job loss, or separation from a spouse. Women also completed a 15-item questionnaire to evaluate their levels of anxiety, depression and happiness and optimism.

Women who had experienced two or more severe or mild-to-moderate life event were 62 per cent more likely to have breast cancer, the researchers found. “This suggests that stressful events do not protect us from the effect of additional events, and even ‘moderate or mild events’ seem to have a cumulative effect,” Peled and her team write in the medical journal BMC Cancer.

Women with breast cancer were statistically more likely to have higher scores for depression and lower score for happiness and optimism.

However, they also found that women with a “general feeling of happiness and optimism” had a 25 per cent lower risk of having been diagnosed with breast cancer.

Based on these findings, she concludes that “women who suffer severe losses in their young age should be considered as a (breast cancer) risk group and be treated accordingly.”