Positive outlook found to have no effect on cancer survival

Cancer patients have long been told that having a positive attitude increases their chances of survival. Not only does a new study dispute that notion, it suggests that the common wisdom actually may put an extra burden on patients.

Researchers at Peter MacCallum Cancer Centre in Melbourne, Australia, and other Australian hospitals studied nearly 150 patients undergoing treatment for lung cancer, which typically has a five-year survival rate of less than 15%. They found that patients’ level of optimism had no effect on how long they lived after undergoing cancer treatment or on the progress of their disease.

Mitch Golant, vice president of research and development for the Washington, D.C.-based Wellness Community, said patients should be encouraged to develop realistic expectations about their illness so they can make good decisions about their care, not be pressured to be blindly positive. The nonprofit organization provides support and education to patients.

“The important distinction is that optimism doesn’t exclude sadness, sorrow, grief and hurt. You can decide to go on in the face of all that, knowing the outcome is not under your control,” Golant said.

The findings appeared in the Feb. 9 online edition of the American Cancer Society’s journal Cancer.

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Jane E. Allen