Evidence map›Paper›PMID 27225892›Full record

ReviewBreast cancer research : BCR2016

Breast cancer and social environment: getting by with a little help from our friends.

Adam Hinzey, Monica M Gaudier-Diaz, Maryam B Lustberg, A Courtney DeVries

Open access · goldAbstract readReview
PubMed Full text at PMC Publisher
In one paragraph

Review in Breast cancer research : BCR, 2016. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 60 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
60citing papers in PubMed, 1 pooled it
4.4field-weighted citation impact, top 4% of its field
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

60 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it, 95 citations in OpenAlex.

  1. Pooled it
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  7. TheFrontiers in oncology · 2026
    Review
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  10. A Neighborhood-Level Hispanic Paradox: The Interaction among Hispanic Density, Neighborhood Disadvantage, and Survival in Patients with Breast Cancer.Cancer epidemiology, biomarkers & prevention : a publication of the American Association for Cancer Research, cosponsored by the American Society of Preventive Oncology · 2025
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4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

4 authors at 1 institution in 1 country.

Adam HinzeyDepartment of Neuroscience, The Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center, Columbus, OH, 43210, USA.
Monica M Gaudier-DiazDepartment of Neuroscience, The Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center, Columbus, OH, 43210, USA.
Maryam B LustbergDepartment of Internal Medicine, The Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center, Columbus, OH, 43210, USA.
A Courtney DeVriesDepartment of Neuroscience, The Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center, Columbus, OH, 43210, USA. devries.14@osu.edu.
The Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center · US

Funding

Affective Consequences of ChemotherapyR01CA194924 · NCI · WEST VIRGINIA UNIVERSITY · PI DEVRIES, ANNE COURTNEY · 2015 to 2019
$2.0M
NCI NIH HHS R01 CA194924
6 · The paper itself

Abstract

Social environment is a well-recognized determinant in health and wellbeing. Among breast cancer patients, inadequate social support is associated with a substantial increase in cancer-related mortality. A common explanation is that socially isolated individuals fare worse due to reduced instrumental support (i.e., assistance meeting the demands of treatment). However, the ability to replicate the detrimental effects of social isolation on mammary tumor growth in rodents strongly suggests an alternative explanation; i.e., socially isolated individuals have a physiological milieu that promotes tumor growth. This review summarizes the clinical and basic science literature supporting social influences on breast cancer, and provides a conceptual physiological framework for these effects. We propose that social environment contributes to the vast individual differences in prognosis among breast cancer survivors because social environment is capable of altering basic physiological processes, which in turn can modulate tumor growth. Appreciation of the role of social environment in breast cancer progression could promote the identification of patients at increased risk for poor outcomes. In addition, characterization of the underlying physiological mechanisms could lead to targeted disruption of detrimental pathways that promote tumor progression in socially isolated individuals, or exploitation of protective pathways activated through social engagement as novel therapeutic complements to contemporary treatments.

Indexed as

Disease SusceptibilitySocial EnvironmentBreast NeoplasmsDisease ProgressionFemaleHealth Impact AssessmentHumansMammary Neoplasms, ExperimentalOxytocinSignal TransductionSocial ChangeSocial IsolationStress, PhysiologicalStress, PsychologicalOxytocinBreast cancerCatecholaminesGlucocorticoidsOxytocinSocial isolation

Identifiers

PMID27225892
PMCPMC4881170
OpenAlexW2401666074

What OpenQuestion holds

Textmetadata
LicenceCC BY
Read underepoch 390

Registered trials

None linked

Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.