Stress Related to Wife’s Breast Cancer Harms Husband’s Health

For years after a cancer diagnosis and completion of treatment, a husband’s health can be negatively affected as a result of tending to a wife with breast cancer, according to research published in a recent issue of the journal Brain, Behavior and Immunity.

These findings suggest that physicians treating patients with breast cancer could further help their patients by considering the caregivers’ health as well, researchers say. Doctors may screen caregivers for stress symptoms and encourage them to participate in stress management, relaxation, or other self-care activities, said Sharla Wells-Di Gregorio, lead author of the study and assistant professor of psychiatry and psychology at Ohio State University.

“If you care for the caregiver, your patient gets better care, too,” said Kristen Carpenter, a postdoctoral researcher in psychology at Ohio State and a study co-author.

Participants in the study included 32 men with a median age of 58 years. Almost all of the men were white, and they had been married, on average, for 26 years. Of the 32 participants, 16 were married to wives who had experienced a breast cancer recurrence an average of 8 months before the study began and approximately 5 years after the initial cancer diagnosis. These men were matched with 16 men whose wives’ cancers were similar, but who remained disease-free about 6 years after the initial diagnosis.

The participants completed several questionnaires, including a subjective stress assessment called the Impact of Events Scale. These assessments measured levels of psychological stress related to their wives’ cancers, physical symptoms associated with stress, and the level to which fatigue encumbered their daily functioning. By analyzing white blood cell activation in response to 3 different types of antigens, researchers were also able to test the men’s immune function.

In general, the men whose wives had experienced a recurrence of cancer reported higher levels of stress, greater interference from fatigue, and more physical symptoms, such as headaches and abdominal pain, than did the men whose wives had remained disease free.

The participants also reported stress-related physical symptoms. These symptoms included headaches, gastrointestinal problems, coughing, and nausea. On average, men with wives with recurrent cancer reported 9 symptoms, and those whose wives were disease free reported fewer than 5 symptoms. Men with the highest scores on the stress scale also showed the lowest immune responses to 2 of the 3 antigens.

“Caregivers are called hidden patients because when they go in for appointments with their spouses, very few people ask how the caregiver is doing,” said Wells-Di Gregorio, who works in Ohio State’s Center for Palliative Care. “These men are experiencing significant distress and physical complaints but often do not seek medical care for themselves due to their focus on their wives’ illness.”

Source: The Ohio State University.