Stressed? Get a mammogram

Stressed out? See your doctor and get a mammogram. Or at least do a self-examination, because a latest study suggests there's a link between stress and aggressive breast cancer. 

LOS ANGELES, CA (Catholic Online) - Researchers at the University of Illinois at Chicago have been studying the role that stress plays in the development of breast cancer. Their results indicate that fear, anxiety, and isolation, or what experts refer to as, "psychosocial stress," is correlated with aggressive breast cancer. 

The researchers evaluated almost 1,000 women who had already been diagnosed with breast cancer. They did a stress assessment and found that there was a clear association between stress and the more aggressive forms of cancer. 

More precisely, they found that stressed women were 22 percent more likely to have cancers that were, "estrogen receptor-negative" which means that many traditional forms of treatment would not work. Drugs that are designed to treat cancer by cutting off estrogen such as Tamoxifen, Evista, and Arimidex, are therefore ineffective. 

Women who suffered the most stress were 18 percent more likely to be diagnosed with a high-grade, aggressive tumor, although they also say the link went away when they factored in other considerations such as age and cancer stage. 

Finally, the study found that black and Latina women were more stressed than white patients. 
The real question that the study does not answer is how much of the stress is being caused by the diagnosis as opposed to the typical stress faced by women prior to diagnosis. In other words, is the diagnosis causing the stress, or is it the other way around? Or, does each condition promote the other?

For now, those questions remain unanswered, and while it is tempting to assume the diagnosis is causing most of the stress, it is better to be safe. 

In any case, stress management is a good idea, regardless if one has cancer or not. 
The results of this study were discussed Monday at the American Association for Cancer Research's Conference on Health Disparities and Cancer in Racial/Ethnic Minorities and the Medically Underserved. 

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