to the Authors' knowledge, the associations between the life stress and losses and deficit in adulthood and the risk of breast cancer (BC) are rarely considered together in a prospective study.
in an extension of the Kuopio Breast Cancer Study, 115 women with breast symptoms were semi-structurally interviewed in-depth, as well as asked to complete standardised questionnaires, and all study variables were obtained before any diagnostic procedures were carried out. The Montgomery-Åsberg depression rating scale (MADRS) was used to evaluate the depression of the study participants.
the clinical examination and biopsy showed BC in 34 patients, benign breast disease (BBD) in 53 patients, and 28 individuals were shown to be healthy (HSS). The BC group had significantly higher mean score for the loss of social status in adulthood than did the BBD and HSS groups (p