Do stress-related psychosocial factors contribute to cancer incidence and survival?

Abstract

A substantial body of research has investigated the associations between stress-related psychosocial factors and cancer outcomes. Previous narrative reviews have been inconclusive. In this Review, we evaluated longitudinal associations between stress and cancer using meta-analytic methods. The results of 165 studies indicate that stress-related psychosocial factors are associated with higher cancer incidence in initially healthy populations (P = 0.005); in addition, poorer survival in patients with diagnosed cancer was noted in 330 studies (P <0.001), and higher cancer mortality was seen in 53 studies (P <0.001). Subgroup meta-analyses demonstrate that stressful life experiences are related to poorer cancer survival and higher mortality but not to an increased incidence. Stress-prone personality or unfavorable coping styles and negative emotional responses or poor quality of life were related to higher cancer incidence, poorer cancer survival and higher cancer mortality. Site-specific analyses indicate that psychosocial factors are associated with a higher incidence of lung cancer and poorer survival in patients with breast, lung, head and neck, hepatobiliary, and lymphoid or hematopoietic cancers. These analyses suggest that stress-related psychosocial factors have an adverse effect on cancer incidence and survival, although there is evidence of publication bias and results should be interpreted with caution.