Stress caused by prostate cancer diagnosis may be fatal

A new Swedish study has found that emotional stress can put newly diagnosed prostate cancer patients at increased risk for cardiovascular events and suicide.

Researchers noted before 1987, prostate cancer patients were about 11 times more likely to experience a fatal cardiovascular event during the first week after diagnosis than men without prostate cancer. During the first year after diagnosis, prostate cancer patients were nearly twice as likely to have a cardiovascular event as men without prostate cancer, the researchers found.

After 1987, the risk of fatal or non-fatal cardiovascular events in men with prostate cancer was about three times higher in the first week and slightly higher in the first year after diagnosis, compared to men without prostate cancer.