Clinical trial · Interventional
Stress Management and Biological Age in Breast Cancer Patients.RCT
Psychological and Biological Outcomes in Breast Cancer Patients After Pythagorean Self-Awareness Intervention.
- Source
- ClinicalTrials.gov
- Retrieved
- Sep 8, 2026
- Layer
- normalized (units and labels harmonized; values unchanged)
- Run
- ING-CLINICALTRIALS-20260908-000001
Summary
Brief summary (as posted)
Intense stress has harmful effects on the body, contributing to various disorders. Breast cancer patients experience a build-up of stress due to their diagnosis and treatments. Stress can cause epigenetic changes in a cellular level (such as accelerated increase in biological age) that may negatively affect oncological treatments. This study aims to investigate the effect of stress management, specifically the Pythagorean Self-Awareness Intervention, on telomere length in T-leukocytes of breast cancer patients after completing all treatments except hormonal therapy. The study involves self-referred questionnaires and blood material extraction. Understanding the role of stress management in breast cancer may lead to improved patient outcomes and survival rates.
Conditions
Conditions (3)
Free-text conditions as registered, with the CancerIndex entity they were reconciled to and the match type.
| Condition (as posted) | Mapped entity | Match | Confidence |
|---|---|---|---|
| Breast Cancer | Malignant Breast Neoplasm | CURATED_EXACT | 0.92 |
| Stress | — | UNRESOLVED | — |
| Telomere Length, Mean Leukocyte | — | UNRESOLVED | — |
Interventions
Interventions (2)
| Intervention | Type | Mapped drug | Match |
|---|---|---|---|
| One day seminar | Behavioral | — | UNRESOLVED |
| PSAI | Behavioral | — | UNRESOLVED |
Design
Arms and outcomes
Arms (2)
- type
- EXPERIMENTAL
- label
- PSAI group
- description
- Participants are enrolled in the Pythagorean Self-Awareness Intervention (PSAI) where they receive weekly group sessions of 120 min for 6 weeks and they receive information about stress and lifestyle modifications and they are also instructed to practice the PSAI at bedtime and in the morning, every day, at home.
- interventionNames
- Behavioral: PSAI
- type
- ACTIVE_COMPARATOR
- label
- Control group
- description
- One day seminar where they receive information about stress and lifestyle modifications
- interventionNames
- Behavioral: One day seminar
Primary outcomes (3)
- measure
- Physical I
Eligibility
Eligibility (as posted)
- Sex
- Female
- Minimum age
- 18 Years
- Maximum age
- 70 Years
Show eligibility criteria text
Inclusion Criteria: * Diagnosis of primary breast cancer * Completion of anticancer therapy (except for hormonal therapy) Exclusion Criteria: * Psychiatric diagnosis and treatment * Metastasis * Previous participation in any stress management and health promotion study * Inability to read or write in Greek
References
Publications (5)
- BACKGROUNDChrousos GP. Stress and disorders of the stress system. Nat Rev Endocrinol. 2009 Jul;5(7):374-81. doi: 10.1038/nrendo.2009.106. Epub 2009 Jun 2. PMID 19488073
- BACKGROUNDLin Y, Wang C, Zhong Y, Huang X, Peng L, Shan G, Wang K, Sun Q. Striking life events associated with primary breast cancer susceptibility in women: a meta-analysis study. J Exp Clin Cancer Res. 2013 Aug 13;32(1):53. doi: 10.1186/1756-9966-32-53. PMID 23941600
- BACKGROUNDDamjanovic AK, Yang Y, Glaser R, Kiecolt-Glaser JK, Nguyen H, Laskowski B, Zou Y, Beversdorf DQ, Weng NP. Accelerated telomere erosion is associated with a declining immune function of caregivers of Alzheimer's disease patients. J Immunol. 2007 Sep 15;179(6):4249-54. doi: 10.4049/jimmunol.179.6.4249. PMID 17785865
- BACKGROUNDCharalampopoulou M, Bacopoulou F, Syrigos KN, Filopoulos E, Chrousos GP, Darviri C. The effects of Pythagorean Self-Awareness Intervention on breast cancer patients undergoing adjuvant therapy: A pilot randomized controlled trial. Breast. 2020 Feb;49:210-218. doi: 10.1016/j.breast.2019.12.012. Epub 2019 Dec 20. PMID 31901782
- BACKGROUNDCarlson LE, Beattie TL, Giese-Davis J, Faris P, Tamagawa R, Fick LJ, Degelman ES, Speca M. Mindfulness-based cancer recovery and supportive-expressive therapy maintain telomere length relative to controls in distressed breast cancer survivors. Cancer. 2015 Feb 1;121(3):476-84. doi: 10.1002/cncr.29063. Epub 2014 Nov 3. PMID 25367403