Stress linked to lower endometrial cancer risk

NEW YORK, June 15 (Reuters) Women who feel chronically stressed may have a lower risk of developing uterine cancer than their less harried peers, researchers have found.

In a study that followed nearly 6,800 Danish women for two decades, researchers found that women with higher self-reported stress levels at the beginning of the study were less likely to develop endometrial cancer.

The findings, published in the journal Psychosomatic Medicine, which mirror the results of some breast cancer risk studies, may seem surprising. The researchers speculate that these lower cancer risks may reflect diminished estrogen production in women under chronic stress.

Endometrial cancer is cancer that originates in the lining of the uterus, and hormones are believed to play an important role in the development of the disease. Factors that limit a woman's lifetime exposure to estrogen -- such as starting menstruation late, pregnancy and early menopause -- have been shown to correlate with a lower risk of endometrial cancer.

This may also explain why women who report greater stress show lower rates of breast and endometrial cancers, according to the study authors, led by Dr Naja Rod Nielsen of the National Institute of Public Health in Copenhagen.

Because of the effects of stress on the central nervous system, persistent stress may lower the body's synthesis of estrogen, the researchers explain.

They emphasise, however, that chronic stress should not be seen as a good thing, because it may also promote or exacerbate other health conditions, such as heart disease, stroke and impaired immune function.

''Despite these results,'' Nielsen and her colleagues write, ''stress may still be a risk factor for other diseases and should therefore not be considered a healthy response.'' REUTERS AGL RK0930