Psychosocial factors that affect the survival of adult cancer patients: A review of research

The authors reviewed articles published from 1960 to 1996 that focused on research on psychosocial interventions and factors that affect survival from cancer. In general, they concluded that psychosocial interventions are most effective in the early stages of disease, the strongest predictors of survival are biological, the effects of psychological factors on survival are inconsistent in early stage disease and insignificant in cases of metastatic cancer, socio-demographic variables (high socioeconomic status, private health insurance, and involvement in social networks) are positively correlated with survival, and psychosocial factors are more apparent in patients younger than 55 years.