14 DAY TRIAL // A new study carried out by researchers from the Institute of Cancer Epidemiology in Copenhagen, Denmark, found that men who have partners suffering from breast cancer, have a high risk of developing mood disorders.
Serious diseases can affect not only the patient's mental, but also the life partner's and in some breast cancer cases, the psychological trauma is so big that some men need hospitalization.
Several small studies have already suggested that partners of cancer patients often have major psychological problems caused by the disease (without necessarily getting to severe depression).
A team from the Institute of Cancer Epidemiology in Copenhagen, Denmark, led by Christoffer Johansen MD, PhD, DSc (Med), looked at the frequency on which male partners of breast cancer patients are admitted with affective disorders, including major depression, bipolar disease or any other serious mood-altering conditions.
The scientists analyzed data from 1,162,596 Danish men, 30 years or older, without any history of hospitalization for any kind of affective disorders, that had been living continuously with the same partner for at least five years.
The subjects were followed during a 13-year period, during which 20,528 breast cancers were diagnosed, and 180 men were hospitalized with affective disorders.
Statistics revealed that men whose partners were diagnosed with breast cancer ran a higher risk of being hospitalized with an affective disorder than men without breast cancer suffering partners.
Also, the more serious the breast cancer case, the higher the hospitalization risks, and men whose partners had a relapse had higher risks of developing affective disorders than those whose partners were cancer-free.
Finally, men who had lost their partners to breast cancer, had a 3.6-fold increased risk of developing an affective disorder compared with those whose partners survived.
Professor Johansen said that “a diagnosis of breast cancer not only affects the life of the patient but may also seriously affect the partner.”
“We suggest that some sort of screening of the partners of cancer patients in general and of those of breast cancer patients in particular for depressive symptoms might be important for preventing this devastating consequence of cancer.”
Breast cancer patients' partners are so affected mainly because they feel extremely stressed and might experience a lack of emotional, social or economic support.
The research was published early online in Cancer, a journal of the American Cancer Society.