Stress Exposure in Significant Relationships Is Associated with Lymph Node Status in Breast Cancer.

OBJECTIVE:Life stress exposure may impact on health and disease. Previous literature showed that stressful life events are associated with cancer incidence, survival and mortality. In animal models, patterns of maternal care have been shown to critically affect stress sensitivity and immunity trajectories later in life, by modifying DNA methylation during critical periods early in life. However, the role of parental care in breast cancer progression and survival has only limitedly been explored. Here, we investigated whether these factors may be linked to biological prognostic variables. METHODS:One hundred twenty-three women hospitalized for surgery of primary breast cancer completed a questionnaire assessing parental bonding. Stressful events throughout the life span were also assessed. RESULTS:We found that the absence of optimal parental relationships is significantly associated with an increased risk of lymph node involvement, adjusting for confounders, while cumulative stress in the area of sentimental relationships is borderline significantly associated with the same prognostic factor. CONCLUSIONS:Our results suggest that parental bonding and sentimental relations may have a role in breast cancer progression. These variables represent an important evolutionary aspect which may modulate cancer progression through psycho-physiological stress pathways and influence the immune system

Results from multiple logistic model for the association with positive lymph node status.

<p><i>InSitu</i> were excluded from the analysis. Significant P-values are indicated in bold, nearly significant P-values are indicated in italics.</p

Socio-demographic and medical features of all patients included.

<p>Socio-demographic and medical features of all patients included.</p

Frequencies of patients by type of stress life events and lymph-node status.

<p>Significant P-values are indicated in bold.</p

Histogram of frequencies (%) of patients with positive lymph node (N1) status by category of life stress events.

<p>Dark bars depict percentage frequencies of N1 patients who experienced repeated stress (at least one event of the category occurred more than once), light bars depict percentage frequencies of N1 patients who did not experience repeated stress (all events in the category occurred once or never). Asterisks indicate significant P-values derived from Chi-squared test.</p