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Happiness may affect breast cancer risk
Ronit Peled of Ben-Gurion University of the Negev in Israel questioned women about their life experiences and evaluated their levels of happiness, optimism, anxiety and depression prior to diagnosis. Researchers used this information to examine the relationship between breast cancer and life events or psychological distress.
A total of 622 women ages 25 to 45 were interviewed: 255 breast cancer patients and 367 healthy women.
The study, published in the British journal BMC Cancer, showed a clear link between outlook and risk of breast cancer, with optimists 25 percent less likely to have developed the disease. Conversely, women who suffered two or more traumatic events had a 62 percent greater risk.
"Young women who have been exposed to a number of negative life events should be considered an 'at-risk' group for breast cancer and should be treated accordingly," Peled said in a statement.
Copyright 2008 by United Press International
This news arrived on: 08/25/2008
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Posted Comments:
08-29-2008 01:20
Ruz Gulko wrote:
happiness & breast cancer
Fascinating. But not new: Dr. Marty Seligman showed the relationship between cancer and loss in the 70's. It's actually not so much the trauma but the reaction to it ( upbeat, hopeful vs. negative, pessimistic) that was the critical factor - and the study of "learned helplessness" was born.
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