Psychological morbidity in women at increased risk of developing breast cancer: a controlled study

There has been an ongoing debate in the literature on the extent to which women with a family history of breast cancer are at risk of psychological morbidity. This study compares psychological morbidity in 557 women participating in a large Australian registry of high-risk breast cancer families (kConFab) with 2 age and education matched samples, 1494 general practitioner attendees and 158 members of a twin registry. Participants completed the Somatic and Psychological Health Report (SPHERE). There were no significant differences between the three groups on psychological distress (F(2, 670) = 1.77, p = 0.17). Unsurprisingly, GP attendees reported more symptoms of somatic distress than the kConFab group (t411 = 2.89, p = 0.004); there were no differences between the twins and the kConFab group on somatic distress (t174 = 0.40, p = 0.687). Clinically significant anxiety/depression, a combination of psychological and somatic distress, therefore was significantly higher in GP attendees (28%) than the kConFab and twin samples (both 20%). These results refute the hypothesis that women with a family history of breast cancer are at greater psychological risk.