Psychological influences on cancer and ischaemic heart disease

Research misconduct complaints and institutional logics: The case of Hans Eysenck and the British Psychological Society

A formal complaint was lodged with the British Psychological Society in 1995 that alleged serious scientific misconduct by Hans J Eysenck. The complaint referred to research into the links between personality traits and the causes, prevention and treatment of cancer and heart disease. Using a framework of institutional logics, we criticise the Society's decision not to hear this complaint at a full disciplinary hearing. We urge the BPS to investigate this complaint afresh. We also support calls for the establishment of an independent National Research Integrity Ombudsperson to deal more effectively with allegations of research misconduct.

Personality and fatal diseases: Revisiting a scientific scandal

During the 1980s and 1990s, Hans J Eysenck conducted a programme of research into the causes, prevention and treatment of fatal diseases in collaboration with one of his protégés, Ronald Grossarth-Maticek. This led to what must be the most astonishing series of findings ever published in the peer-reviewed scientific literature with effect sizes that have never otherwise been encounterered in biomedical research. This article outlines just some of these reported findings and signposts readers to extremely serious scientific and ethical criticisms that were published almost three decades ago. Confidential internal documents that have become available as a result of litigation against tobacco companies provide additional insights into this work. It is suggested that this research programme has led to one of the worst scientific scandals of all time. A call is made for a long overdue formal inquiry.

The Hans Eysenck affair: Time to correct the scientific record

The Journal of Health Psychology publishes here Dr Anthony Pelosi's analysis of questionable science by one of the world's best-known psychologists, the late Professor Hans J Eysenck. The provenance of a huge body of data produced by Eysenck and Ronald Grossarth-Maticek is highly controversial. In Open letters to King's College London and the British Psychological Society, this editor is requesting a thorough investigation of the facts together with retraction or correction of 61 publications. Academic institutions have a conflict of interest concerning allegations of misconduct, which is why I believe that the only way forward is to have a National Research Integrity Ombudsperson to investigate allegations.

Behavioral genetics of the depression/cancer correlation: a look at the Ras oncogene family and the 'cerebral diabetes paradigm'

This study investigates the causes of the observed linkage between depression and later onset of cancer. The prevailing view is that cancer in depressed patients results from a weakened immune system. However, molecular biologists have recognized that dysregulation of the ras proto-oncogene results in impaired serotonin and dopamine synthesis manifesting as major depression. A qualitative review of the literature showed that (1) studies using the Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory showed a greater correlation between depression and later cancer onset than those employing other measures and (2) the more related the cancer type was to the Ras oncogene family, the greater the correlation between depression and later cancer onset. These results support the hypothesis that the ras proto-oncogene plays a role in the etiology of depression and could be the common denominator in long-observed depression/cancer linkages. Previous depression/cancer linkage studies are confounded in that they failed to analyze cancer type and accurately diagnose depression.

The relationships of a rationality/antiemotionality personality scale to mortalities of cancer and cardiovascular disease in a community population in Japan

OBJECTIVE

Grossarth-Maticek et al. reported that an individual's level on a rationality/antiemotionality (R/A) personality was strongly predictive of cancer, ischemic heart disease and stroke mortality. To investigate the relationships of an individual's level on the R/A personality to cancer and cardiovascular disease mortality in Japan, we conducted a population-based cohort study.

METHOD

A self-administered questionnaire was distributed to 36990 Japanese residents in September 1992. The response rate was 90.3%. Data from 13226 males and 14880 females were analyzed. Dates and causes of death through December 31, 1999 were obtained for deceased participants.

RESULTS

The results from multivariate hazard ratios (HRs) revealed that males scoring in the middle level compared to those scoring in the lower level of the R/A personality scale decreased their risk of death from cancer and cardiovascular diseases after controlling for covariates.

CONCLUSIONS

The level on the R/A personality scale may affect mortality from cancer and cardiovascular diseases differently in Japan.

Personality and the risk of cancer

BACKGROUND

The role of personality in the causation of cancer has been controversial. We examined this question in a large, prospective study.

METHODS

From June through August 1990, 30 277 residents of Miyagi Prefecture in northern Japan completed a Japanese version of the short form of the Eysenck Personality Questionnaire-Revised and a questionnaire on various health habits. There were 671 prevalent cases of cancer at baseline, and 986 incident cases of cancer were identified during 7 years of follow-up, through December 1997. We used Cox proportional hazards regression to estimate the relative risk (RR) of incident cancer (total, stomach, colorectal, breast, and lung) according to four levels of each of four personality subscales (extraversion, neuroticism, psychoticism, and lie), with adjustment for sex, age, education, smoking, alcohol use, body mass index, and family history of cancer. Statistical tests were two-sided.

RESULTS

Multivariable RRs of total cancer for individuals in the highest level of each personality subscale as compared with those in the lowest were 0.9 for extraversion (95% confidence interval [CI] = 0.7 to 1.1; P(trend) =.32), 1.1 for psychoticism (95% CI = 0.9 to 1.3; P(trend) =.96), 0.9 for lie (95% CI = 0.7 to 1.0; P(trend) =.19), and 1.2 for neuroticism (95% CI = 1.0 to 1.4; P(trend) =.06). There were no associations between any personality subscale and risk of specific cancers. Neuroticism showed statistically significant positive, linear associations with prevalent cancer at baseline (P(trend)<.001) and with the 320 incident cancer cases diagnosed within the first 3 years of follow-up (P(trend) =.03); however, it showed no association with the 666 cases diagnosed during the fourth through the seventh years of follow-up (P(trend) =.43).

CONCLUSION

Our data do not support the hypothesis that personality is a risk factor for cancer incidence. The association between neuroticism and prevalent cancer may be a consequence, rather than a cause, of cancer diagnosis or symptoms.

Persönlichkeit, Krebs und koronare Herzerkrankungen:

Zusammenfassung. Die Befundliteratur zu den ätiologisch bedeutsamen Faktoren bei Krebs- und koronaren Herzerkrankungen (KHK) lässt auf einen nur sehr geringen Stellenwert von Persönlichkeitsfaktoren schließen. Nicht mehr als 1 bis 2% der Gesundheits-Krankheitsvarianz sind auf differentialpsychologische Variablen zurückführbar, von denen vorrangig Verlusterlebnisse, Depressionen und gehemmter Gefühlsausdruck mit Krebs in Verbindung gebracht werden, während Typ A-Verhalten sowie dessen Komponenten Ehrgeiz, Ärger und Feindseligkeit mit KHK korrelieren sollen. Verschiedene Anzeichen sprechen dafür, dass im Zuge der Forschung die Bedeutung psychologischer Merkmale im Vergleich zu den bekannten biomedizinischen Risikofaktoren weiter zurückgegangen ist. Als Ursache dafür kommen verschiedene methodische Gesichtspunkte in Betracht, darunter geänderte Zusammensetzung der Stichproben, andere Diagnoseinstrumente und die Einführung immer stringenterer Kontrollen für konfundierende Faktoren. Denkbar ist aber auch, dass sich als Folge der Publikation von Forschungsergebnissen zu Krebs und KHK die untersuchten Krankheiten selbst - und damit ihr Verursachungsgeflecht - geändert haben, etwa über andere Ernährungs- und Bewegungsgewohnheiten. Angesichts der geringen Bedeutung psychologischer Faktoren erscheinen Spekulationen darüber müßig, wie im Einzelnen die Kausalketten von Persönlichkeit zu Krankheit beschaffen sind.

Rationality/antiemotionality personality and selected chronic diseases in a community population in Japan

OBJECTIVE

To clarify the relationships of the rationality/antiemotionality (R/A) personality with past histories of seven chronic diseases and current smoking habits in a community population in Japan.

METHODS

A questionnaire survey was conducted of all residents aged 35 years old or over (n = 37,287) in Takayama city, Gifu prefecture, Japan; the response rate was 90.3%. Data from 13,091 males and 14,061 females who completed all relevant questions were analyzed. The subjects were asked to complete an 11-item R/A personality scale developed by Grossarth-Maticek et al. (1985). Past histories of seven major chronic diseases and current smoking habit were also asked in the questionnaire.

RESULTS

Among males, the R/A scale score was significantly lower in those who had stroke, diabetes or allergy than in those who did not. Among females, the R/A scale score was significantly lower in those who had stroke, allergy or stomach cancer than in those who did not. Among females, current smokers had significantly lower R/A scores than non-smokers. After controlling for age, smoking and drinking, the R/A score was significantly and negatively associated with stroke among males and females; it was significantly and negatively associated with diabetes and allergy among males.

CONCLUSION

Our findings are contrary to those observed in Yugoslavia and West Germany, and suggest a cultural difference in the relationship between the R/A personality and disease occurrence.

Depression and the development of cancer: a meta-analysis

There is considerable support among members of the public and health professionals for the view that depression is an aetiological factor in the development of cancer. We review evidence for this hypothesis based upon prospective longitudinal studies measuring depression at time 1 and subsequent incidence of cancer over the intervening period to time 2. A meta-analysis of available studies indicates a small, but marginally statistically significant association between depression and the later development of cancer. However, the practical significance of this association for the prevention of cancer is negligible.

Psychosocial factors, cancer, and ischaemic heart disease

Images