|
|
Article: Chronic Depression Link to Cancer Suspected
- Article from:
- The Washington Post
- Article date:
- December 28, 1998
- Author:
CopyrightThis material is published under license from the Washington Post. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Washington Post. (Hide copyright information)
|
Studies have linked chronic depression to heart disease and a long
list of medical maladies, and now federal researchers have found a
possible addition to the risk list: cancer.
Brenda Penninx and her colleagues at the National Institute on
Aging have been involved in a large epidemiological study of the
elderly. Within this complex database, they found that people who
reported symptoms of depression each of the three times they were
interviewed over a six-year period were almost twice as likely to
have a subsequent diagnosis of cancer as those who were not
depressed.
"These were people chronically depressed," said Penninx, a
scientist from the Netherlands who works at the federal aging ...