Breast cancer, psychological distress and life events among young women

The aim of the present study was to examine the relationship between life events, psychological distress and Breast Cancer (BC) among young women.A case control study. The study population included 622 women, under the age of 45 years. 255 were diagnosed for BC, and 367 were healthy women. A validated Brief Symptom Inventory (BSI) and Life Event Questionnaire were used.The cases presented significantly higher scores of depression compared to the controls and significant lower scores of happiness and optimism. A significant difference was found when comparing the groups according to the cumulative number of life events (two or more events). A multivariate analysis suggest that exposure to more than one life event is positively associated with BC [Odds Ratio(OR) :1.62 95% Confidence Interval (CI): 1.09–2.40], and that a general feeling of happiness and optimism has a "protective effect" on the etiology of BC. (OR-0.75, 95% CI:0.64–0.86).Young women who were exposed to a number of life events, should be considered as a risk group for BC and treated accordingly.Breast cancer (BC) is the most frequent malignant disease among women. According to American reports every third cancer is diagnosed as BC. In 2002 the incidence rate and death rate for invasive BC, were 124.9 and 25.5 per 100,000 women respectively [1]. In Europe breast cancer has become the commonest cancer diagnosed overall, with 429,900 new cases in 2006 (13.5% of all cancer cases), before lung cancer [2].In Israel BC rates are among the highest in the world. During the last 25 years a steady increase in the incidence rates has been documented. in 2002, the age adjusted incident rates for women aged 25 – 49 and 65+, were 159.63 and 350.13 per 100,000 women, respectively [3].Several risk factors have been documented in the scientific literature, among them are: family history [4], radiation exposure [5], androgenic estrogens [6-8], nutrition and diet habits [9,10], smoking, alcohol consumption, lack of physica