Associations between selected life events and cancer.

This case control study compares 508 women with cancer with 1,563 controls with respect to four different life events as indicators for an increased cancer risk: (1) death of the father during childhood; (2) death of the mother during childhood, both before the age of 16; (3) divorced, separated, or widowed at any time; (4) at least one traumatic World War II experience. The age-adjusted relative risks were 1.10, 1.71, 1.45, and 1.33, respectively. The only variable not showing a significant association with cancer was "death of father." Inferences from the results are limited by the retrospective study design and by the inability to isolate events that are cancer specific from those specific to illness in general.