BREAST CANCER SURVIVORS BLAME STRESS

Breast cancer survivors believe that emotional stress - more than any other factor - triggered their disease.

In a study of nearly 378 breast cancer survivors who had been disease-free for an average of nine years, 42% cited stress as one of the main causes of their breast cancer. This was many more than the 27% who felt genetics was involved, the 26% who attributed a role to environmental factors, 24% who blamed hormones and 16% who thought diet was a contributing factor.

Sixty percent of the women also felt that a positive attitude helped them keep the breast cancer from returning, followed by diet (50%), healthy lifestyle (40%), exercise (40%), stress reduction (28%), prayer (26%), complementary therapies (11%), luck (4%) and tamoxifen (4%).

Psycho-Oncology ­ March/April 2001;10:179-83. http://www.interscience.wiley.com/

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