TY - JOUR
T1 - A prospective association between quality of life and risk for cancer
AU - Flensborg-Madsen, Trine
AU - Johansen, Christoffer
AU - Grønbæk, Morten
AU - Mortensen, Erik Lykke
N1 - Copyright © 2011 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
PY - 2011/11
Y1 - 2011/11
N2 - Aim: The contributions of social and especially of psychological factors to cancer development have been questioned. The goal of this study was to investigate, in a longitudinal setting, the prospective associations between self-reported measures of social relations, subjective health (physical and mental) and quality of life and the risk for cancer. Methods: In 1993, 4493 people in the Copenhagen Perinatal Cohort were asked to rate their social relations, their physical and mental health and their quality of life. The study population was followed until the end of 2006 for registration of cancer in the Danish Hospital Discharge Register. Results: During the follow-up period, cancer was diagnosed in 102 people. When compared with people with very good quality of life, those who rated their quality of life as poor had a hazard ratio of 1.90 (95% confidence interval [CI], 1.1-3.4) for cancer, and those who rated their quality of life as good had a hazard ratio of 1.31 (95% CI, 0.8-2.2), after adjustment for age, sex, income, lifestyle factors and number of health problems. Self-rated physical and mental health were significantly associated with the risk for cancer, but the estimates became non-significant after adjustment for confounding factors. Social relations were not associated with the risk for cancer. Conclusion: Broad assessment of general well-being, self-rated as global quality of life, appears to be a better predictor of cancer risk than more specific information on social relations and health.
AB - Aim: The contributions of social and especially of psychological factors to cancer development have been questioned. The goal of this study was to investigate, in a longitudinal setting, the prospective associations between self-reported measures of social relations, subjective health (physical and mental) and quality of life and the risk for cancer. Methods: In 1993, 4493 people in the Copenhagen Perinatal Cohort were asked to rate their social relations, their physical and mental health and their quality of life. The study population was followed until the end of 2006 for registration of cancer in the Danish Hospital Discharge Register. Results: During the follow-up period, cancer was diagnosed in 102 people. When compared with people with very good quality of life, those who rated their quality of life as poor had a hazard ratio of 1.90 (95% confidence interval [CI], 1.1-3.4) for cancer, and those who rated their quality of life as good had a hazard ratio of 1.31 (95% CI, 0.8-2.2), after adjustment for age, sex, income, lifestyle factors and number of health problems. Self-rated physical and mental health were significantly associated with the risk for cancer, but the estimates became non-significant after adjustment for confounding factors. Social relations were not associated with the risk for cancer. Conclusion: Broad assessment of general well-being, self-rated as global quality of life, appears to be a better predictor of cancer risk than more specific information on social relations and health.
KW - Adult
KW - Cohort Studies
KW - Denmark
KW - Female
KW - Health Status
KW - Humans
KW - Male
KW - Neoplasms
KW - Proportional Hazards Models
KW - Prospective Studies
KW - Quality of Life
KW - Questionnaires
KW - Social Environment
U2 - 10.1016/j.ejca.2011.06.005
DO - 10.1016/j.ejca.2011.06.005
M3 - Journal article
C2 - 21745736
SN - 0959-8049
VL - 47
SP - 2446
EP - 2452
JO - European Journal of Cancer, Supplement
JF - European Journal of Cancer, Supplement
IS - 16
ER -
