Suffering a major loss, such as the death of a loved one, may play a role in how likely people are to develop cancer or how quickly people with cancer succumb to their illness, according to a new study.

Researchers looked at the impact on parental health that resulted from the death of a son due to war or an accident.

• The researchers focused on over 6,000 parents living in Israel, approximately two thirds of whom lost one or two sons in the Yom Kippur War and its aftermath, between 1973 and 1974.

• The remaining parents had sustained the loss of one or two sons in accidents between 1970 and 1977.

• With all parents, regardless of the cause of their son's death, there was a significant increase in their risk of developing certain cancers after the loss, including lymphatic tumors and melanomas.

• An increased risk of the development of respiratory tumors was found solely among mothers and fathers who lost a child in an accident.

The authors conclude that while there is an association between stress and the onset and progression of cancer, the speed with which the parents ultimately died from cancer after their loss was only accelerated if their cancer had been diagnosed prior to their son's death and not after the fact.

In an interview with Reuters Health, Dr. Levav emphasized that the overall message is that human beings should not be thought of as a sum of their parts but rather as whole individuals with physical and mental components interacting and affecting one another.

"That perhaps is the most interesting idea that this study emphasizes -- that people are one single entity," he said. "You can't split them up into separate spheres -- one for emotions and one for biology."

American Journal of Public Health October, 2000;90:1601-1607