Trauma history as a predictor of psychologic symptoms in women with breast cancer

Purpose: To identify predictors of psychiatric problems in women with early-stage breast cancer. Patients and Methods: One hundred sixty women with early-stage breast cancer were recruited from three treatment centers. They filled out self-report questionnaires, including a medical history and demographic survey, the Trauma History Questionnaire, Life Event Questionnaire, Brief Symptom Inventory, Beck Depression Inventory, and Duke-UNC functional Social Support Questionnaire, and were evaluated using the Structured Clinical Interview for DSM-IH-R. Results: Hierarchical regression analyses indicated that four of five variable sets made a significant incremental contribution to outcome prediction, with 35% to 37% of the variance explained. Outcomes were predicted by demographic variables, trauma history variables, precancer psychiatric diagnosis, recent life events, and perceived social support. Cancer treatment variables did not predict outcome. Conclusion: The findings highlight the important roles of trauma history and recent life events in adjustment to cancer and have implications for screening and treatment. J Clin Oncol 18:1084-1093. (C) 2000 by American Society of Clinical Oncology.