Psychological characteristics of breast cancer patients as a prognostic factor

Abstract

The prevalence and social importance of breast cancer in the present-day world make it necessary to study the factors that influence the prognosis of the disease. The paper considers an association between the psychological characteristics of breast cancer patients and their survival on the basis of 15-year follow-up data from 70 patients, by using a Mini-Mult questionnaire. The patient's cardinal personality traits that differ in the direction of an aggression vector: with responses of aggressive tendencies outside or inside are identified. Overall survival (median of 48 months) in female patients with a paranoid psychotype was significantly higher than that (median of 10.5 months) in those with a psychasthenic psychotype. On retention of the influence of biological prognostic factors, such as patient age, tumor nodule sizes, and the number of metastatic regional lymph nodes, the cardinal personality traits and their associated behavioral model are independent prognostic factors of disease progression.

Keywords

breast cancer / survival / psychotype / aggression

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