Risk may be greater for black and Asian women
New research shows that shortly after a breast cancer diagnosis, 23% of women experience symptoms related to post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), and the risk of these symptoms may be greater among black and Asian women.
For the study, researchers at the Herbert Irving Comprehensive Cancer Center (HICCC) at New York-Presbyterian/Columbia University Medical Center analyzed phone interviews conducted among 1139 participants in the Breast Cancer Quality of Care Study, which included women over the age of 20 with newly diagnosed stages I to III breast cancer.
Phone interviews were conducted with each patient at the following times:
- 2 to 3 months after diagnosis and before the third chemotherapy cycle (if the patient was receiving chemotherapy)
- 4 months postdiagnosis
- 6 months following diagnosis
“During the first 2 to 3 months after diagnosis, nearly a quarter of them met the criteria for PTSD, although the symptoms declined over the next 3 months. Younger women were more likely to develop symptoms of PTSD, and data suggest Asian and black women are at a more than 50% higher risk than white women,” said lead author Alfred I. Neugut, MD, PhD, the Myron M. Studner Professor of Cancer Research, professor of medicine and epidemiology, at Columbia University’s College of Physicians & Surgeons and Mailman School of Public Health, and a member of the HICCC.
According to Neugut, who is also an oncologist at New York-Presbyterian Hospital/Columbia, “If we can identify potential risk factors for PTSD, when women are diagnosed with breast cancer, we could provide early prevention and intervention to minimize PTSD symptoms.”
The study is published online ahead of print in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute.
Source: Columbia University Medical Center.