Letters

Adverse life events and breast cancer

EDITOR,--The latest interview study about adverse life events and breast cancer, by C C Chen and colleagues, reports a positive link,¹ but wider review of the literature shows a contradictory picture.² Retrospective interview studies on this topic are hampered by unavoidable problems. A diagnosis of cancer has often been correctly predicted by the patient or interviewer before the results of biopsy are known, which increases the likelihood of overreporting of stress in an effort to explain the illness. The temporal relation of previous life events to the onset of cancer is impossible to assess because the onset of cancer cannot be dated. Furthermore, patients with benign breast disease may not be a suitable comparison group.

These limitations can be overcome by large population record studies in which the focus of interest is restricted to two major adverse life events--widowhood and divorce--which can be objectively . . . [Full text of this article]

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Relevant Article

Reservations about conservative surgery for early breast cancer are unjustified

J Michael Dixon and S Kohlhardt
BMJ 1996 313: 113. [Extract] [Full Text]

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• Dixon, J M., Kohlhardt, S (1996). Reservations about conservative surgery for early breast cancer are unjustified. BMJ 313: 113a-113 [Full text]