Prior psychiatric treatment and the development of breast cancer.

Computerized records of a large university hospital were searched to identify all women from 1967 to 1976 whose conditions had been diagnosed as breast cancer or primary cancer of another site. The records for those women with diagnoses of cancer were then examined to identify any prior psychiatric diagnoses. The rationale was that most patients treated in this hospital setting for psychiatric disorders received neuroleptic drugs, and patients with a diagnosis of schizophrenia are almost certain to be treated with major neuroleptic drugs over a prolonged period of time. No substantial difference in the relative frequency of prior psychiatric treatment was observed between breast cancer and other cancer groups.