• E-mail
• Print
• Comment
• Font Size
• Digg
• del.icio.us
• Discuss article

Feeling Stressed? It Could Actually Reduce Your Risk of Developing Breast Cancer

Posted on: Friday, 9 September 2005, 12:00 CDT

High levels of daily stress suffered by women may lead to a lower risk of them developing breast cancer, research suggested today.

The 18-year study which involved more than 6,500 women, found the higher a person's stress levels are, the less likely they are to be diagnosed with breast cancer.

But researchers, writing in the British Medical Journal, also warn increased stress puts women more at risk of other serious illnesses such as heart disease.

At the start of the study the research team, from the National Institute of Public Health in Copenhagen, asked women what levels of stress they experienced routinely in their lives. This was classified into either low, medium or high levels of stress-related symptoms, such as tension, nervousness, anxiety and sleeplessness.

The researchers also took into account other factors such as whether the women had children or had entered the menopause, which would influence the risk of breast cancer.

However they did not consider risk factors such as family history of the disease.

The researchers found that 251 women were diagnosed with breast cancer during the 18-year study.

They calculated that women reporting high levels of stress were 40% less likely to develop breast cancer than the women reporting low levels of stress.

The researchers said that one explanation of the findings might be that sustained levels of high stress may affect oestrogen levels - which over time may have an influence on developing breast cancer.

But the researchers said this theory had never been tested, and research had mainly been restricted to animals.

Dr John Steward, director of the Welsh Cancer Intelligence and Surveillance Unit, said psychological stress does not usually figure highly as a risk factor for breast cancer. But he said although the study was small and therefore should be treated with caution, he thought the results were sound.

He added that the most likely risk factors for breast cancer are related to female hormones. But family history, fatty diets, and exposure to radiation through X-rays are also factors. He said about 5% of all breast cancer incidence is related to genes.

Dr Steward said, 'These results are biologically plausible as we know that young women who are stressed by a lot of athletic training or who suffer from anorexia have a reduced risk of breast cancer. It seems that the total number of cycles in a woman's lifetime is a key factor, so late menopause increases risk.'

Dr Sarah Rawlings, head of policy at Breakthrough Breast Cancer, said, 'It's always hard to measure the impact of stress on breast cancer risk as it's difficult to untangle from other factors in our lives and everyone views their own stress levels differently.

'This study doesn't help us to draw further conclusions. However, maintaining a healthy balanced lifestyle is important - we know that high stress levels can lead to unhealthy behaviour, which may alter your risk of breast cancer and other diseases.'

Director of the Tenovus Centre for Cancer Research Robert Nicholson, who is also a professor in cancer pharmacology at Cardiff University, said the link between increased stress and reduced breast cancer risk was not one he had come across before. But he also said the study was not very helpful as people were unlikely to 'go around inducing stress'.

He said, 'It is unlikely that induction of stress is ever likely to be a viable means of preventing breast cancer and if its actions are caused by reducing oestrogen levels (as suggested), then there are more tested ways of doing that eg by giving tamoxifen (an anti- breast cancer drug)'.

Source: Western Mail

More News in this Category