Keep worries at bay: Chronic stress can increase the risk of death by cancer, says study

If being 'stressed out' is your normal, it's time to reconsider your lifestyle choices.

Chronic and long-term stress is capable of causing excessive 'wear and tear' to the body which can increase the risk of cancer-related death, according to a new study.

In scientific terms, the 'wear and tear' is referred to as 'allostatic load' - the cumulative effects caused due to stress over time.


When an individual is stressed, the body releases cortisol (stress hormones) that tends to go back to normal levels once the external stressors don't exist any longer. However, people who go through chronic stress don't have it easy, the study - published in the SSM Population Health journal - found.

Dr Justin Xavier Moore, an epidemiologist at the Medical College of Georgia and Georgia Cancer Center, said, "if you have chronic, ongoing psychosocial stressors, that never allow you to 'come down,' then that can cause wear and tear on your body at a biological level."

Stress can not just make you feel miserable emotionally, but can have adverse effects on your overall physical well-being.

Previous studies have found that stress can lead to many health problems such as diabetes, depression, anxiety, heart conditions, obesity, cognitive impairment, and gastrointestinal and respiratory issues.

Consistent stress can also lead to excessive headaches and migraines, and accelerate ageing. In some cases, stress can also lead to premature death making pre-existing lifestyle conditions fatal.

The study was conducted based on data collected from more than 41,000 people from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES) between 1988 and 2019. The database included baseline biological measures of participants such as body mass index, diastolic and systolic blood pressure, total cholesterol, haemoglobin A1C (higher levels indicate a risk for diabetes), albumin and creatinine (both measures of kidney function) and C-reactive protein (a measure of inflammation). Researchers used these components to determine the 'allostatic load'.

Moore explained that his team then cross-referenced those participants with the National Death Index, maintained by the National Center for Health Statistics and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, to determine which people died from cancer and when.

The researchers found that, even without adjusting for any potential confounders like age, social demographics like race and sex, poverty to income ratio and educational level, those with a high allostatic load were 2.4 times more likely to die from cancer than those with low allostatic loads.

Cancer is a leading cause of death worldwide, accounting for nearly 10 million deaths in 2020, or nearly one in six deaths. In India, cancer is the second leading cause of death, after heart disease.