Israeli study: optimism may help against breast cancer
By Seth Mandel
August 29, 2008
A new study by an Israeli medical research team found that general happiness and optimism may protect against the onset of breast cancer.
The results, authored by Dr. Ronit Peled, Ph.D. of
A total of 622 women under the age of 45 were interviewed for the case control study: 255 breast cancer patients and 367 healthy women.
"The results," Peled said in a statement sent to reporters when the study was published, "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."
In the study, published in the British journal BMC Cancer under the title Breast cancer, psychological distress and life events among young women, Peled noted that according to American statistics, on-third of cancer diagnoses are of breast cancer. The sudy may have even more impact in Israel, where, according to Peled, breast cancer rates are among the highest in the world.
Peled wrote that there are many risk factors for breast cancer, including family history, radiation exposure, nutrition, smoking, and lack of physical activity. But all of the risk factors documented in scientific literature, Peled claimed, only explain about 40 percent of the cases.
The study authors, who also included Devora Carmil, Orly Siboni-Samocha, and Ilana Shoham-Vardi, believed that the relationship between "body and mind" needed to be further examined with regard to such a common disease.
"We hypothesized that psychological distress and severe life events are risk factors for BC (breast cancer) among young women," Peled wrote. "We also hypothesized that there is a cumulative effect of life events on the initiation of the disease."
To measure the effects of life events on the disease, a demographic questionnaire, a questionnaire measuring psychological distress, and a life event questionnaire were used.
"The cases (those with BC) presented significantly higher scores of depression compared to the controls (healthy participants) and significant lower scores of happiness and optimism," Peled wrote. "Both groups, but mostly the cases, were found to have higher scores of depression and anxiety compared to the Israeli standards."
Peled wrote that the researchers could not demonstrate the individual effects each stressful or traumatic "life event" has on the patient's risk of developing cancer, but that the cumulative effect of experiencing more than one "life event" was to put the patient at risk.
Peled also wrote that the patients were interviewed after their diagnoses, and although they were asked to give an honest representation of their mental and emotional state prior to diagnosis, their illness could have influenced their general feelings of optimism and happiness.
Peled also wrote that linking feelings of stress with the onset of cancer is difficult because of the challenging nature of isolating emotions from the rest of the cofactors. The study also did not find a significant correlation between anxiety and the disease.
But, Peled added, the "life events" can be verified, even if emotions cannot be, and the study did find a correlation between such events and the disease.
"From a policy making point of view, we suggest that young women who suffered a loss in their early childhood, especially those exposed to a number of life events, should be considered as a risk group and be treated accordingly," Peled wrote.