MedWire News: Breast cancer patients face an increased risk of post-traumatic stress disorder if they have a history of anxiety or mood disorders, US researchers have found.

Dr Rebecca Shelby, from Ohio State University in Columbus, and colleagues studied 74 breast cancer patients. All the patients completed questionnaires designed to assess their history of anxiety and mood disorders prior to their breast cancer diagnosis.

The participants were also assessed 18 months after diagnosis for the development of cancer-related post-traumatic stress disorder.

In total, 12 of the patients met the criteria for post-traumatic stress disorder.

Analysis revealed that patients who had suffered from anxiety before being diagnosed with breast cancer were more than three times as likely to develop post-traumatic stress disorder after diagnosis as those without such a history.

The team also found that women with a history of mood disorders such as depression were twice as likely to develop post-traumatic stress disorder as other women.

Researcher Dr Barbara Andersen, also from Ohio State University, said: "What is unique about breast cancer patients with post-traumatic stress disorder is that they have already had this double hit of both anxiety and mood disorders even before they got the diagnosis.

"So when they are in a new situation that is very anxiety provoking - cancer diagnosis and treatment - it is not surprising that they are at risk for developing post-traumatic stress disorder."

The teams says their findings suggest that doctors should screen newly diagnosed breast cancer patients for previous anxiety and mood disorders, and that prompt therapy may help prevent such patients developing post-traumatic stress disorder.

The research is published in the Journal of Traumatic Stress.