14 DAY TRIAL // The fact that stress decreases a woman's fertility is known. But a new research published in the "Annals of Behavioral Medicine" shows that daily stress can go much further than that, decreasing women's immune system capacity to defend a common sexually transmitted disease, leaving them vulnerable for developing cervical cancer. This was not seen however in the case of acute, not chronic, stress, like that caused by major life events (like divorce or job loss).
Human papillomavirus (HPV) causes one of the most common STDs, being responsible for genital warts. The most common strain is HPV16; this strain and several others can provoke cervical cancer.
"HPV infection alone is not sufficient to cause cervical cancer. Most HPV infections in healthy women will disappear spontaneously over time. Only a small percentage will progress to become precancerous cervical lesions or cancer. An effective immune response against HPV can lead to viral clearance and resolution of HPV infection. But some women are less able to mount an effective immune response to HPV," explained Dr. Carolyn Y. Fang of Fox Chase Cancer Center.
In this study, subjects having precancerous cervical lesions were put to complete a questionnaire about their perceived stress in the last 30 days and about major stressful life events, like divorce, death of a relative or job loss.
"We were surprised to discover no significant association between the occurrence of major stressful life events and immune response to HPV16. This could be due to the amount of time that has passed since the event occurred and how individuals assess and cope with the event. Our findings about subjective daily stress told a different story, however. Women with higher levels of perceived stress were more likely to have an impaired immune response to HPV16. That means women who report feeling more stressed could be at greater risk of developing cervical cancer because their immune system can't fight off one of the most common viruses that causes it," said Fang.