An association between chronic life stressors prior to diagnosis of breast cancer

Authors

  • Nathália de Sousa-Pereira Laboratory of DNA Polymorphisms and Immunology, Department of Pathological Sciences, Biological Sciences Center, Londrina State University, PR445, Km 380 Celso Garcia Cid highway, Londrina, PR 86057-970, Brazil. Telephone: +55 43 3371-5630, E-mail: nathaliasousapereira@gmail.com https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7292-9861
  • Mayara Bocchi Laboratory of DNA Polymorphisms and Immunology, Department of Pathological Sciences, Biological Sciences Center, Londrina State University, Paraná, Brazil https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6609-7683
  • Caroline Yukari Motoori-Fernandes Laboratory of DNA Polymorphisms and Immunology, Department of Pathological Sciences, Biological Sciences Center, Londrina State University, Paraná, Brazil
  • Bruna Karina Banin-Hirata Laboratory of Immunogenetics, Department of Basic Health Sciences, Biological Sciences Center, Maringa State University, Paraná, Brazil https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6280-0140
  • Luiz Gustavo Piccoli de Melo Department of Clinical Medicine, Health Sciences Center, State University of Londrina, Paraná, Brazil
  • Karen Brajão de Oliveira Laboratory of Molecular Genetics and Immunology, Department of Pathological Sciences, Biological Sciences Center, Londrina State University, Paraná, Brazil https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9666-6963
  • Glauco Akelington Freire Vitiello Laboratory of DNA Polymorphisms and Immunology, Department of Pathological Sciences, Biological Sciences Center, Londrina State University, Paraná, Brazil https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3474-8047
  • Carlos Eduardo Coral de Oliveira Department of Medicine, Pontifical Catholic University of Paraná, Londrina, Brazil https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0502-2255
  • Clodoaldo Zago Campos Department of Clinical Medicine, Health Sciences Center, State University of Londrina, Paraná, Brazil
  • Marla Karine Amarante Laboratory of DNA Polymorphisms and Immunology, Department of Pathological Sciences, Biological Sciences Center, Londrina State University, Paraná, Brazil https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8218-8518
  • Maria Angelica Ehara Watanabe Laboratory of DNA Polymorphisms and Immunology, Department of Pathological Sciences, Biological Sciences Center, Londrina State University, Paraná, Brazil https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1789-8200

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.17179/excli2021-4005

Keywords:

breast carcinoma, oncology, risk factor, stress, chronic

Abstract

The clinical course of breast cancer (BC) and survival depend on a wide range of risk factors. From the psychosomatic point of view, BC is one of the most studied type of cancer but there is no evidence available for this relation. Therefore, in the present study we evaluate the impact of chronic life stressors in BC patients. A total of 100 BC patients were invited to participate in an interview, when information about social parameters and emotional changes in the period prior to diagnosis were collected. The emotional changes were evaluated by the Holmes and Rahe's Stress Scale, which analyzes the difficulty required for a person to readjust to society after significant changes in their life. Clinicopathological parameters were obtained from the medical records. For all data, the level of significance adopted was p <0.05. It was observed that 55.2 % of the patients have a medium and 13.8 % were at high risk for disease development related to stressful events in the period prior to the BC diagnosis. The highest stress levels were presented by separated, divorced, or widowed patients compared to married (p <0.01) and single (p = 0.037) patients. The high-risk (HR) group had a lower proportion of positivity for estrogen receptor when compared to the low (LR) and moderate risk (MR) groups (p= 0.001). In addition, a binary logistic regression analysis was performed, and we found that the relationship between the estrogen receptor and the HR of chronic stress was independently associated with the histological type of BC and lymph nodes involvement. The relationship of stressful life experiences and BC is not well established, so our study collaborates with the literature to demonstrate the importance of stress as a factor associated with the development of BC.

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Published

2021-08-31

How to Cite

de Sousa-Pereira, N., Bocchi, M., Motoori-Fernandes, C. Y., Banin-Hirata, B. K., Piccoli de Melo, L. G., Brajão de Oliveira, K., … Ehara Watanabe, M. A. (2021). An association between chronic life stressors prior to diagnosis of breast cancer. EXCLI Journal, 20, 1370–1378. https://doi.org/10.17179/excli2021-4005

Issue

Vol. 20 (2021)

Section

Original articles

License

Copyright (c) 2021 Nathália de Sousa-Pereira, Mayara Bocchi, Caroline Yukari Motoori-Fernandes, Bruna Karina Banin-Hirata, Luiz Gustavo Piccoli de Melo, Karen Brajão de Oliveira, Glauco Akelington Freire Vitiello, Carlos Eduardo Coral de Oliveira, Clodoaldo Zago Campos, Marla Karine Amarante, Maria Angelica Ehara Watanabe

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