According to a new study, psychosocial stress may contribute to the origination of the breast cancer aggressiveness, mostly among marginal populations. The findings of the study were presented at the Fourth AACR Conference.

Garth H. Rauscher from University of Illinois said, “Soon after the diagnosis, we found that Hispanic black patients with breast cancer had more episodes of psychosocial stress that whites. We believe that the stress was linked to breast tumor aggressiveness.”

Rauscher along with his colleagues investigated the perceptions of isolation, anxiety, and fear reported by their patients under study. These perceptions are collectively referred to as psychosocial stress, and linked to breast cancer aggressiveness. He mentioned that they examined the stress levels of the patients continuously for 2 to 3 months after the diagnosis.

989 patients recently diagnosed with breast cancer were included in the study. Of those study participants, 181 were Hispanic, 379 were non-Hispanic white, and 411 were non-Hispanic black. The findings of the study showed that white patients were less likely to suffer psychosocial stress as compared to Hispanic and black patients.

“We found that those who suffered higher stress levels also had more aggressive breast cancer. But we are not sure we would get same results few years before diagnosis,” he added.

“We have no strong evidence to support this association. All we want to say is that may be stress levels in the lives of these people made impact on the aggressiveness of the tumor or may be worrisome diagnosis of aggressive breast cancer made impact on stress reports. This led us to conclude that may be both the factors contribute equally in the association but no clear view regarding it,” Rauscher said.