Anxiety not linked to breast cancer outcomes. (No Effect on Distant Metastasis, Death).

SAN ANTONIO -- Psychosocial factors aren't related to outcome in women with early-stage breast cancer, Dr. Pamela J. Goodwin reported at a breast cancer symposium sponsored by the San Antonio Cancer Institute.

Contrary to popular belief, breast cancer patients who at diagnosis are de pressed, anxious, or score high on helplessness / hopelessness measures don't subsequently have higher rates of distant metastasis or death than those who are free of such psychological baggage. And women with a fighting-spirit coping style don't fare differently than those with a more fatalistic attitude toward their disease, said Dr. Goodwin, director of the Marvelle Koffler Breast Center at Mt. Sinai Hospital, Toronto.

She reported on 378 women with surgically removed early-stage breast cancer who completed an extensive battery of psychological and health-related quality-of-life tests about 10 weeks after their diagnosis. They were then prospectively followed for a median of 5.8 years, during which there were 57 distant cancer recurrences and 34 deaths.

Dr. Goodwin's hypothesis was that relapse and death would be more likely in women with poor health-related quality of life, a less active coping style, and greater depression, ...