The Effects of Perceived Stress and Life Style Leading to Breast Cancer

Abstract

Researchers conducted a study in a Taiwanese medical center from June 2009 to June 2011 to investigate the relations of perceived stress and lifestyle to breast cancer. A total of 157 cases and 314 controls completed a structured questionnaire. Using multiple logistic regression models, high perceived stress (adjusted odds ratio [AOR] = 1.65; 95% confidence interval [CI], 1.10-2.47), less than 1,000 kcal of physical activity expenditure per week (AOR, 2.17; 95% CI, 1.39-3.39), and high intake of fried and stir-fried food (AOR, 1.86; 95% CI, 1.24-2.77) were positively associated with breast cancer. Breast cancer was related to joint interactions between high perceived stress and alcohol intake of 11.0 g or more per day (AOR, 2.91; 95% CI, 1.23-6.86), smoking at least one cigarette per day (AOR, 2.52; 95% CI, 1.16-5.47), intake of less than 100 ml of green tea per day (AOR, 2.47; 95% CI, 1.40-4.38), physical activity of less than 1,000 kcal per week (AOR, 3.36; 95% CI, 1.77-6.36), high fried and stir-fried food intake (AOR, 3.18; 95% CI, 1.79-5.63), and high meat and seafood intake (AOR, 1.89; 95% CI, 1.09-3.27). Perceived stress, when combined with potentially risky lifestyle behaviors, may be a contributing factor to breast cancer.

Tea Consumption, Alcohol Drinking and Physical Activity Associations with Breast Cancer Risk among Chinese Females: a Systematic Review and Meta-analysis

“…A recent study reported that alcohol drinking was associated with an elevated risk of breast cancer (Odds Ratios = 1.86, 95% Confidence Intervals: 1.02-3.39) (Gao et al, 2013). However, one study showed an inverse association (OR = 0.63; 95%CI: 0.52-0.76) , while another found no relationship between them (OR = 1.50; 95%CI: 0.74-1.02) (Wang et al, 2013). Hence, it is necessary to clarify the association between alcohol drinking and breast cancer risk among Chinese female.…”

“…After reviewing the full text of these studies in detail, a total of 39 articles, involving 100,452 participants from 14 provinces, municipalities and regions, were included in the final review (Appendix 1). Among these included studies, we identified 6 cohort studies (Li et al, 2005;Shannon et al, 2005;Wang et al, 2006;Dai et al, 2010;Pronk et al, 2011;Shrubsole et al, 2011;) and 33 case-control studies (Lu et al, 1992;Xu et al, 1997;Zhao et al, 1999;Tao et al, 2002;Zou et al, 2002;Zhang et al, 2003;Chow et al, 2005;Lee et al, 2005;Chou et al, 2006;Huang et al, 2006;Li et al, 2006;Jin, 2007;Ma, 2007;Zhang et al, 2007;Kallianpur et al, 2008;Ren, 2008;Wang et al, 2008;Shrubsole et al, 2009;Wang et al, 2009;Zhang et al, 2009;Qian et al, 2010;Shi et al, 2010;Bao et al, 2011;Dai et al, 2011;Leu et al, 2011;Zhang et al, 2011;Hou et al, 2012;Xu et al, 2012;Yu et al, 2012;Wang et al, 2013). According to the NOS items, 11 studies were evaluated as high quality, 25 studies as modest quality, and 3 studies as low quality, respectively.…”

A prospective study of the relationship between psychological factors and breast cancer

“…[15] Depending on this association, some studies further focused on psychological factors in relation to the elevated risk of specific cancer. [1617181920] To demonstrate the relationship between stress and cancer, a population-based sample of 3177 cancer-free adults were followed for 24 years with findings suggesting that major depression was associated with a higher hazard for overall cancer (hazard ratio [HR]: 1.9, 95% confidence interval [CI]: 1.2-3.0) and a significant increased hazard for breast cancer (HR: 4.4, 95% CI: 1.08-17.6). [17] A study followed 33,819 newly diagnosed major depressive disorder (MDD) patients with mean duration of 5.19 years, and the result showed that female MDD patients had higher breast cancer risk.…”

“…[19] A study investigated the relations of perceived stress and lifestyle to breast cancer and found perceived stress, when combined with potentially risky lifestyle behaviors, may be a contributing factor to breast cancer. [20] As presented above, psychological factors are known to contribute to breast carcinomas.…”

Psychophysical Stress and Individual Susceptibility to Breast Cancer

“…Therefore, although stressful events were not proved to be a direct cause of cancer, in our opinion, they might promote or even accelerate the development of a preexisting malignancy. And actually another recent study suggests that perceived stress may be a contributing factor to breast cancer, when combined with potentially risky lifestyle behaviors [14].…”