Breast Cancer :: Social isolation increases breast cancer death risk

Breast cancer patients who have no close relatives or friends are more likely to die of the disease than those socially integrated, says a study.

According to the study by scientist Candyce H. Kroenke, women diagnosed with breast cancer should know that people around them can make a difference in whether they survive the disease, reported news portal All Headline News.

The study appearing in the Journal of Clinical Oncology found that socially isolated women, including those with few relatives or friends, were 66 percent more likely to die from all causes and twice as likely to die from breast cancer.

Women who had no close relatives or friends were three and four times more likely to die from breast cancer, respectively, than those with 10 or more close relatives or friends.

The study finds those who had no living children had a nearly six-fold increased risk of death from breast cancer in comparison to those with six or more living children.