Mammography more stressful for survivors of disease.

2004 MAR 4 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- The stress of mammography after surviving breast cancer may cause health risks beyond having a history of the disease itself, a new study suggests.

Breast cancer survivors find follow-up mammography more stressful than do women who have never had the disease, or even those who are newly diagnosed, the researchers say.

"Women with a previous cancer diagnosis reported two to four times as many acute stress symptoms as women with no previous cancer," says Maria Gurevich, PhD, of Toronto's Ryerson University and Princess Margaret Hospital.

The study appeared in the January/February 2004 issue of the journal Psychosomatic Medicine.

Psychological stress may result from any aspect of mammography, Gurevich says, arising before screening, at the time of the test itself, while awaiting results or after hearing the outcome.

Such stress may influence future health. Memories of their earlier cancer diagnosis may affect survivors' willingness to return for regular follow-up mammograms or to find them more stressful when they do go. Some avoid these checkups altogether, even though the American Society of Clinical Oncology recommends annual mammograms for survivors of breast cancer. Earlier studies showed that 30% of survivors had not received a mammogram in the prior year.

"This raises the question of why women may be reluctant to undergo regular follow-up mammograms," Gurevich says. "Our study suggests that perhaps the experience triggers distressing memories or prior cancers."