title: Life change and onset of cancer in identical twins.
abstract: The relationship of life change to the onset of cancer was studied in 22 pairs of HLA-identical siblings who were discordant for hematologic malignancies. The twin pairs were hospitalized for bone marrow transplantation. Life change was measured using a well-validated instrument, the Schedule of Recent Experiences (SRE). Contrary to our expectations, we were unable to document increased life changes in the sick twins. The timing of administration of the SRE with respect to the transplant did influence reporting of life events. However, regardless of timing of administration, in the period antedating the diagnosis of malignancy the healthy donor twins had increased or equivalent life changes when compared to their sick twins.
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D004200:Diseases in Twins; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007938:Leukemia / Q000235:genetics* / Q000523:psychology; D008016:Life Change Events; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D011581:Psychological Tests