Stress and survival after cancer: a prospective study of a Finnish population-based cohort.
Stress has been suggested to reduce survival after cancer, but the results of previous studies have been contradictory. We investigated the hypothesis in a national cohort of adults in Finland. Of those who completed the Stressful Life Events scale and the Stress of Daily Activities scale, 1470 and 1882, respectively, later had cancer and were included in the analysis, covering 23 years of follow-up between 1982 and 2004. In Cox regression analysis, the multivariate hazard ratio (HR) was 0.99 (95% confidence interval [CI], 0.96-1.01) for total number of life events and the HR for the life change score was 0.99 (95% CI, 0.95-1.03). Further, the HR was 0.92 (95% CI, 0.69-1.22) for severe daily stress. Overall, the results of the current study do not support the hypothesis that stress reduces cancer survival.
Department of Psychosocial Cancer Research, Institute of Cancer Epidemiology, Danish Cancer Society, Copenhagen, Denmark. knakaya-thk@umin.ac.jp
Kumi
K
Saito-Nakaya
Pernille E
PE
Bidstrup
Naoki
N
Nakaya
Kirsten
K
Frederiksen
Susanne O
SO
Dalton
Yosuke
Y
Uchitomi
Pia
P
Verkasalo
Markku
M
Koskenvuo
Eero
E
Pukkala
Jaakko
J
Kaprio
Christoffer
C
Johansen
D000328:Adult; D015331:Cohort Studies; D005260:Female; D005387:Finland / Q000453:epidemiology; D006801:Humans; D008016:Life Change Events; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009369:Neoplasms / Q000401:mortality* / Q000523:psychology*; D016016:Proportional Hazards Models; D013315:Stress, Psychological / Q000150:complications*; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires