Stress Linked to Aggressive Breast Cancer

Study finds minority women experience more aggressive tumors, more stress

September 23, 2011

Patients reporting greater stress were more likely to have more aggressive breast cancer tumors, according to a new study.

A new study links aggressive breast cancer and stress. But the lead researcher suggests the findings raise as many questions as they answer.

The study included about 1,000 breast cancer patients in Chicago - white, black and Latina.

Soon after diagnosis, the women were interviewed to assess their level of stress. The researchers, led by Garth H. Rauscher of the University of Illinois at Chicago, compared the stress scores with the race of the patient and the aggressiveness of their cancers.

"Black and Hispanic patients reported greater levels of stress than whites did," Rauscher says. "And we also found that patients reporting greater stress were more likely to have more aggressive tumors."

Previous research had found that American black and Latina women have, at the time they are diagnosed, more aggressive cancers than white women. But researchers can't decide if that's because minority women are somehow more susceptible to aggressive tumors, or because, for socioeconomic reasons, their cancers are more likely not diagnosed until the disease has advanced to a more aggressive stage.

So, is having the aggressive disease causing the stress, or is stress causing the disease? Maybe some third factor is involved.