PLUCKINESS can鈥檛 help you defeat cancer after all.
A Scottish team looked at 26 studies on whether a patient鈥檚 outlook affects survival. Ten of the studies examined the widely held belief that 鈥渇ighting spirit鈥� can help people live longer. Another 12 examined the opposite 鈥� whether people died sooner if their outlook was pessimistic.
Mark Petticrew鈥檚 team at the Medical Research Council鈥檚 Public Health Services Unit in Glasgow concluded that neither affects the final outcome (BMJ, vol 325, p 1066).
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But Petticrew still urges people to stay optimistic. 鈥淭here are lots of reasons to have a positive mental attitude other than survival, such as better quality of life and avoidance of anxiety and depression,鈥� he says.