Stressful city life doubles risk of breast cancer

London, Nov 27 (UNI) Stressful city life doubles the chances of developing breast cancer in the women living in urban areas, a research found.

City women are more likely to have stressful jobs and are more physically active and these are the reasons that they are more susceptible to the disease than their countryside counterparts.

''Women living in cities need to pay more attention to having regular breast screening,'' radiologist at the Princess Grace Hospital in London and one of the researchers in the study, Dr Nicholas Perry said.

''Women who live in urban areas are known to have lower attendance for breast-screening programmes than women in outlying areas,'' the Daily Mail quoted the doctor as saying.

In cities, women are also exposed to traffic pollution which can mimic the sex hormones and stimulate breast tissue, leading to denser breasts, the scientists say.

''The Health Survey for England found that women living in London were the thinnest in the country, and breast density is known to be inversely related to body weight,'' Cancer Research UK's professor of screening and a coauthor of the research Stephen Duffy said, adding that obesity could explain the difference between urban and rural women.

In the previous studies, it was found that women with more glandular breasts are up to four times as likely to develop breast cancer than women of the same age with fatty breasts.

The latest study found that women living in London had the densest breasts, particularly around the time of the menopause.

Breast cancer is more common in women who consume alcohol, have never breastfed, eat a high-fat diet, have a family history of the disease, take hormone replacement therapy (HRT) and who delay having children.

UNI