The stress of war and breast cancer incidence

Approximately 94.000 persons were killed or disappeared and about 1.8 million people were forced to flee from their homes during the war in Bosnia and Herzegovina, from April 1992 to December 1995. The Dayton Peace Agreement, signed on November 21, 1995, ended the war. Life and health conditions of the population in B&H characterized with severe disorders caused by severe war and post-war traumatic events. The aim of this work is to establish the connection between breast cancer in women and stress caused by traumatic experiences during the war in B&H. We performed this study of pairs at the Clinic for Oncology, University Clinical Hospital Mostar, from November 2008 to March 2009. Two hundred women from Herzegovina region participated in this research. The study group consisted of 100 women with diagnosed breast cancer. The control group consisted of 100 women without breast cancer diagnosis, of the same age and living in the same area. We have found that women with breast cancer had statistically considerably more war traumatic experiences and thus more stress than the women in control group (p=0.000). The following conclusions are also noteworthy: 39% of women in the study group were under the ages of 50, when diagnosed breast cancer. Only one woman got psychosocially care within breast cancer treatment. High middle age of physiological loss of period (≥50), longer fertile period, as well as the smoking habit are breast cancer risk factors statistically more present. Women with breast cancer have experienced more stress due to significantly more war traumatic experiences, so that war-related stress considered a risk factor.