School of Medicine, Department of Surgery, University of Eastern Finland, Kuopio, Finland.
Anticancer Res. 2010 Oct;30(10):4303-8.
To our knowledge, the associations between the life stress due to losses and deficit at childhood and adolescence and the risk of breast cancer are rarely considered together in a prospective study.
This study is an extension of the Kuopio Breast Cancer Study. Women with breast symptoms were referred by physicians to the Kuopio University Hospital (Finland) and were asked to participate in this study. These women (n=115) were interviewed, and all study variables were obtained before any diagnostic procedures were carried out, so neither the investigator nor the participants knew the final diagnosis of breast symptoms at the time of the interview. The research method used was the semistructured in-depth interview method. The investigator used the Montgomery-Asberg depression rating scale (MADRS) to evaluate the depression of the study participants. All participants were also asked to complete standardized questionnaires (Beck depression inventory and Spielberger trait inventory).
The clinical examination and biopsy showed breast cancer in 34 patients, benign breast disease in 53 patients, and 28 individuals were shown to be healthy. The BC group had significantly higher mean score for the deficit in childhood than the BBD and HSS groups (p<0.05). The women in the BC group had almost significantly higher mean scores for the loss of social status in childhood than the women in the BBD and HSS groups (p=0.05). The BC group had also significantly more severe deficit in childhood than the BBD and HSS groups (p=0.02). The results indicated that breast cancer patients tended to have more life stress due to losses and deficit in childhood and adolescence than BBD and HSS groups.
The results of this study support a weak association between life stress due to losses and deficit in childhood and adolescence and breast cancer risk. However, the biological explanation for such an association is unclear and it might be that stress due to losses and deficit impacts indirectly on breast cancer risk, affecting behaviour, or directly on the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis and autonomic nervous system functioning.
据我们所知，童年和青少年时期因损失和缺陷而导致的生活压力与乳腺癌风险之间的关联很少在前瞻性研究中同时考虑。
本研究是库奥皮奥乳腺癌研究的扩展。有乳房症状的女性由医生转诊至库奥皮奥大学医院（芬兰），并被邀请参加本研究。这些女性（n=115）接受了访谈，所有研究变量均在进行任何诊断程序之前获得，因此在访谈时，调查人员和参与者均不知道乳房症状的最终诊断。研究方法采用半结构化深入访谈法。调查人员使用蒙哥马利-阿斯伯格抑郁评定量表（MADRS）评估研究参与者的抑郁程度。所有参与者还完成了标准化问卷（贝克抑郁量表和斯皮尔伯格特质问卷）。
临床检查和活检显示 34 名患者患有乳腺癌，53 名患者患有良性乳腺疾病，28 名患者身体健康。BC 组在童年缺陷方面的平均得分显著高于 BBD 和 HSS 组（p<0.05）。BC 组在童年时期丧失社会地位方面的平均得分明显高于 BBD 和 HSS 组（p=0.05）。BC 组在童年时期的缺陷也明显比 BBD 和 HSS 组严重（p=0.02）。结果表明，乳腺癌患者比 BBD 和 HSS 组更容易因童年和青少年时期的损失和缺陷而承受更多的生活压力。
本研究的结果支持童年和青少年时期因损失和缺陷而导致的生活压力与乳腺癌风险之间存在微弱关联。然而，这种关联的生物学解释尚不清楚，可能是由于损失和缺陷引起的压力间接影响乳腺癌风险，影响行为，或者直接影响下丘脑-垂体-肾上腺轴和自主神经系统的功能。
