Personality traits and cancer survival: a Danish cohort study.
We conducted a population-based prospective cohort study in Denmark to investigate associations between the personality traits and cancer survival. Between 1976 and 1977, 1020 residents of the Copenhagen County completed a questionnaire eliciting information on personality traits and various health habits. The personality traits extraversion and neuroticism were measured using the short form of the Eysenck Personality Inventory. Follow-up in the Danish Cancer Registry for 1976-2002 revealed 189 incidents of primary cancer and follow-up for death from the date of the cancer diagnosis until 2005 revealed 82 deaths from all-cause in this group. A Cox proportional-hazards model was used to estimate the hazard ratios (HRs) of death from all-cause according to extraversion and neuroticism adjusting for potential confounding factors. A significant association was found between neuroticism and risk of death (HR, 2.3 (95% CI=1.1-4.7); Linear trend P=0.04) but not between extraversion and risk of death (HR, 0.9 (0.4-1.7); Linear trend P=0.34). Similar results were found when using cancer-related death. Stratification by gender revealed a strong positive association between neuroticism and the risk of death among women (Linear trend P=0.03). This study showed that neuroticism is negatively [corrected] associated with cancer survival. Further research on neuroticism and cancer survival is needed.
Nakaya
N
N
Psycho-Oncology Division, Research Center for Innovative Oncology, National Cancer Center Hospital East, Kashiwa, Japan.
Hansen
P E
PE
Schapiro
I R
IR
Eplov
L F
LF
Saito-Nakaya
K
K
Uchitomi
Y
Y
Johansen
C
C
D017677:Age Distribution; D015331:Cohort Studies; D015897:Comorbidity; D003718:Denmark / Q000453:epidemiology; D005260:Female; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D006184:Habits; D015438:Health Behavior; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D015999:Multivariate Analysis; D009369:Neoplasms / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000401:mortality* / Q000523:psychology*; D009497:Neurotic Disorders / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000523:psychology; D010551:Personality; D010552:Personality Assessment; D010555:Personality Inventory; D016016:Proportional Hazards Models; D011446:Prospective Studies; D012306:Risk; D017678:Sex Distribution; D016019:Survival Analysis