Evidence map›Paper›PMID 40247782›Full record

ArticleCancer medicine2025

Sick Leave due to Stress and Subsequent Cancer Risk, a Swedish National Registry Study of 516,678 Cancer Cases.

Jenny Hadrevi, Sai San Moon Lu, Lisbeth Slunga Järvholm, Richard Palmqvist, Tommy Olsson, Sophia Harlid, Bethany Van Guelpen

Abstract read
In one paragraph

Article in Cancer medicine, 2025. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 1 paper.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
1citing papers in PubMed
–field-weighted citation impact
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

1 citing paper in PubMed.

  1. Article
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

7 authors.

Jenny HadreviSection of Sustainable Health, Department of Global Health and Epidemiology, Umeå University, Umeå, Sweden.ORCID https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4864-7842
Sai San Moon LuSection of Sustainable Health, Department of Global Health and Epidemiology, Umeå University, Umeå, Sweden.
Lisbeth Slunga JärvholmSection of Sustainable Health, Department of Global Health and Epidemiology, Umeå University, Umeå, Sweden.
Richard PalmqvistSection of Pathology, Department of Medical Biosciences, Umeå University, Umeå, Sweden.ORCID https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9933-2843
Tommy OlssonSection of Medicine, Department of Public Health and Clinical Medicine, Umeå University, Umeå, Sweden.
Sophia HarlidSection of Oncology, Department of Diagnostics and Intervention, Umeå University, Umeå, Sweden.ORCID https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8540-6891
Bethany Van GuelpenSection of Oncology, Department of Diagnostics and Intervention, Umeå University, Umeå, Sweden.ORCID https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9692-101X

Funding

Region VasterbottenThe Cancer Research Foundation in Northen SwedenThe JC Kempe Memorial Scholarship Foundation
6 · The paper itself

Abstract

backgroundThis study examined whether sick leave due to severe stress (stress leave) and duration of leave are associated with future cancer risk.

methodsWe conducted a matched case-control study using complete-population data from Swedish national registers (2005 to 2018), including 516,678 primary cancer cases and 2,357,433 matched controls. Odds ratios (OR) were calculated by conditional logistic regression and adjusted for pre-specified confounders.

resultsStress leave of any duration, reported to the Swedish Social Insurance Register, was associated with a slightly increased cancer risk, with the highest risk estimate for 1-30 versus 0 days (adjusted OR 1.05, 95% CI 1.02-1.09). In men, a clear exposure-response trend was present. We observed increased risks of prostate cancer (adjusted OR for > 90 days: 1.10, 95% CI 1.01-1.20) and cervical cancer (adjusted OR for > 90 days: 1.11, 95% CI 1.05-1.17, including cancer in situ). In etiology-based analyses, a positive association was found for smoking-related cancers, and the risk relationship for non-cervical HPV-related cancers was similar to that for cervical cancer. Risk estimates were above one for several types of stress in relation to overall cancer risk, including an exposure-response trend for acute stress reactions (p-trend 4.0 × 10

conclusionsStress leave was associated with a modestly higher risk of cancer overall and prostate and cervical cancers specifically. Regardless of whether the link is biological or reflective of lifestyle mediators or for cervical cancer, lower participation in screening, these findings suggest a potential relevance of severe stress for cancer prevention.

Indexed as

NeoplasmsSick LeaveStress, PsychologicalAdultAgedCase-Control StudiesFemaleHumansMaleMiddle AgedProstatic NeoplasmsRegistriesRisk FactorsSwedencancercervix cancerexhaustion disorderpost‐traumatic stress disorder (PTSD)prostate cancersick leavestress

Identifiers

PMID40247782
PMCPMC12006754

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Registered trials

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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.