Effects of medical and psychotherapeutic treatment on the survival of women with metastatic breast carcinoma.
BACKGROUND
The authors previously reported a statistically significant effect of psychosocial intervention on survival time of women with metastatic breast carcinoma. In this study, the authors investigated whether this effect could be explained by differences in the medical treatment patients received subsequent to their group participation or differences in causes of death.


METHODS
Of the original 86 study participants, medical treatment charts for 61 and death certificates for 83 were available for further analysis. The authors reviewed the course of the medical treatment they received subsequent to their entry into the randomized psychotherapy trial.


RESULTS
Although there were no statistically significant differences with regard to chemotherapy and hormone therapy between the control and treatment groups, women in the control group tended to have received more adrenalectomies, although this procedure did not account for the difference in survival time between the control group and the treatment group. Furthermore, women in the control group developed more bone and lung metastases than the women in the treatment group.


CONCLUSIONS
Differences in disease course between the control and treatment groups appeared to be independent of any differences in medical treatment received.
Kogon
M M
MM
Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, Stanford University School of Medicine, California 94305-5544, USA.
Biswas
A
A
Pearl
D
D
Carlson
R W
RW
Spiegel
D
D
D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D001859:Bone Neoplasms / Q000556:secondary; D001943:Breast Neoplasms / Q000401:mortality* / Q000523:psychology / Q000628:therapy*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008175:Lung Neoplasms / Q000556:secondary; D008875:Middle Aged; D009362:Neoplasm Metastasis; D011613:Psychotherapy; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D012657:Self-Help Groups; D015996:Survival Rate