PARIS, June 13 (AFP) - Women who have had breast cancer need not fear that stress could trigger a relapse of the disease, according to a study published in next Saturday's British Medical Journal (NMJ).
Psychiatrists and cancer experts at Guy's, King's and St. Thomas's School of Medicine monitored 202 women aged under 60 who had undergone treatment for primary breast cancer.
They recorded stressful experiences and episodes of depression in lengthy interviews with these patients, from 12 months before they had been diagnosed with cancer and for a period of five years afterwards.
There was no evidence that stressful experiences would precipitate a return of the disease, they found.
"In fact, women who had one or more severely stressful life experiences after diagnosis had a lower recurrence than those who did not," the authors said.
Between a quarter and a third of women diagnosed with operable breast cancer suffer a recurrence of the disease within five years, but the reason for this is unclear.
Several biological factors, notably involvement by the lymph nodes under the shoulders, are a known cause for relapse.
There are also theories that stress could play a role, perhaps by dampening the effectiveness of the immune system, but research into this has yet to provide a conclusive picture.
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