Self-reported psychological stress and the risk of breast cancer: a case-control study

The aim of this study was to examine the relationship between severe life events and breast cancer risk. This study was based on a case-control examination of 858 Polish invasive breast cancer cases and 1085 controls matched for age and place of residence. Data on life events, sociodemographic characteristic, reproductive factors, family history of breast cancer, current weight and height, and lifestyle habits were collected between January 2003 and May 2007 using a self-administered questionnaire. Odds ratios with 95% confidence intervals were estimated as the measure of the relationship between life event stress and breast cancer risk using unconditional logistic regression analyses. After adjustment for potential breast cancer risk factors, women with four to six individual major life events had 5.33 times higher risk for breast cancer, compared with those in the lowest quartile. Similarly, women with a lifetime life change score greater than 210 had about 5 times higher risk compared to women with corresponding scores in the range 0-70. Several life events (death of a close family member, personal injury or illness, imprisonment/trouble with the law, retirement) were significantly associated with breast cancer risk. These findings suggest that major life events can play an important role in the etiology of breast cancer.