Psychological morbidity in women at increased risk of developing breasr cancer: A controlled study

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Abstract
There has been an ongoing debate in the literature on the extent to which women with a family history of breast cancer are at risk of psychological morbidity. This study compares psychological morbidity in 557 women participating in a large Australian registry of high-risk breast cancer families (kConFab) with 2 age and education matched samples, 1494 general practitioner attendees and 158 members of a twin registry. Participants completed the Somatic and Psychological Health Report (SPHERE). There were no significant differences between the three groups on psychological distress (F2, 670=1.77, p=0.17). Unsurprisingly, GP attendees reported more symptoms of somatic distress than the kConFab group (t411=2.89, p=0.004); there were no differences between the twins and the kConFab group on somatic distress (t174=0.40, p=0.687). Clinically significant anxiety/depression, a combination of psychological and somatic distress, therefore was significantly higher in GP attendees (28%) than the kConFab and twin samples (both 20%). These results refute the hypothesis that women with a family history of breast cancer are at greater psychological risk.
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Butow, P
Meiser, Bettina
Price, M
Bennetts, B
Tucker, Katherine
Davenport, Tracey
Hickie, Ian
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Publication Year
2005
Resource Type
Journal Article
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UNSW Faculty