Psychosocial morbidity in patients awaiting breast biopsy

Psychosocial morbidity was compared in 91 patients awaiting breast biopsy and 30 women awaiting elective cholecystectomy. Somatic symptoms and social dysfunction were prominent in cholecystectomy patients. Patients subsequently found to have benign breast disease had the highest levels of psychological morbidity. Patients found to have breast cancer appeared no more anxious or depressed than those awaiting cholecystectomy. However, within the breast cancer group, patients aged 45 or less were significantly more anxious than those over 45, and a past history of psychological upset, prior to discovery of breast disease, was positively and independently associated with anxiety. Results are consistent with recent research suggesting an association between benign breast disease and a predisposition to psychological morbidity.