Psychological morbidity in women at increased risk of developing breast cancer: A controlled study

There has been an ongoing debate in the literature on the extent to which women with a family history of breast cancer are at risk of psychological morbidity. This study compares psychological morbidity in 557 women participating in a large Australian registry of high‐risk breast cancer families (kConFab) with 2 age and education matched samples, 1494 general practitioner attendees and 158 members of a twin registry. Participants completed the Somatic and Psychological Health Report (SPHERE). There were no significant differences between the three groups on psychological distress (F2, 670=1.77, p=0.17). Unsurprisingly, GP attendees reported more symptoms of somatic distress than the kConFab group (t411=2.89, p=0.004); there were no differences between the twins and the kConFab group on somatic distress (t174=0.40, p=0.687). Clinically significant anxiety/depression, a combination of psychological and somatic distress, therefore was significantly higher in GP attendees (28%) than the kConFab and twin samples (both 20%). These results refute the hypothesis that women with a family history of breast cancer are at greater psychological risk. Copyright © 2004 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.