Social Isolation Has Its Toll In Breast Cancer

A new research has found that women who have few close friends or family members at the time of a breast cancer diagnosis are more likely to die from breast cancer compared to those who have better social support structure.

Study author Dr. Candyce H. Kroenke, of the University of California, Berkeley and San Francisco says that social support is very important in breast cancer. Social isolation can lead to a limitation of access to health care, and can lead to inadequate care and may affect the breast cancer outcome.

Research findings from Kroenke and his colleagues appear in the latest issue of Journal of clinical oncology. The scientists painstakingly analyzed the data from nearly 3,000 women in the Nurses' Health Study to come to this conclusion. These women completed periodic questionnaires, including items correlation to their social networks, such as marital status and number and frequency of contacts with close friends and relatives, and their social-emotional support, or their having a confidant.

The scientists found that socially isolated women, including those with few relatives or friends and who did not belong to any church or community groups, were 66 percent more likely to die from all causes and twice as likely to die from breast cancer than those who were the most socially integrated.

"I believe that women who were isolated didn't have a strong reserve of people to call on that help with management of breast cancer," Kroenke speculates.