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Positive thinkers 'avoid cancer'
Reported 22 August, 2008
The small study, published in the BioMed Central journal, also found that
getting divorced, or being bereaved could increase the risk.
But the researchers admitted that women were questioned after their
diagnosis, which might significantly change their outlook on life.
UK experts said it was hard to compare different women's emotional stresses.
The role of mental outlook on cancer remains controversial, with some
studies suggesting that it might play a role.
Meanwhile, others have found no significant effect, either on the likelihood
of developing the illness in the first place, or on your chances of
surviving it.
The latest study looked at 255 women with breast cancer and compared their
answers in a questionnaire on mental outlook and life events with 367
healthy control subjects.
They found that a generally positive outlook appeared to reduce the chance
of breast cancer by a quarter.
In addition, exposure to one or more of the traumatic "life events" such as
loss of a parent or a spouse increased the risk by more than 60%.
Lead researcher Dr Ronit Peled, from Ben-Gurion University, said that women
who had been exposed to a number of negative events should be considered an
"at-risk" group for breast cancer.
"We can carefully say that experiencing more than one
severe and/or moderate life event is a risk factor for breast cancer among
young women.
"On the other hand, a general feeling of happiness and optimism can play a
protective role."
'Complex disease'
But Dr Sarah Cant, from Breakthrough Breast Cancer, maintained that there
was no clear evidence that positive or negative experiences could affect
breast cancer risk.
"Emotional stress is highly subjective and is difficult to measure
accurately.
"Women in this study were interviewed after breast cancer was diagnosed when
they may be more likely to recall feeling depression and anxiety.
"The researchers also didn't account for other factors known to affect
breast cancer risk such as family history or weight.
"Breast cancer is a complex disease and there is unlikely to be one single
cause."
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