A new study has revealed that the emotional stress that is experienced by newly diagnosed prostate cancer patients can put them under an increased risk of cardiovascular troubles and suicide.

For the sake of research, data collected for as many as 68,584 Swedish men diagnosed with prostate cancer between 1961 and 2004 was analyzed, and it was discovered that out of all these men, 10,126, or 6%, experienced a heart trouble episode within 1 year of diagnosis, and 136 patients, 0.08%, committed suicide.

"Stress can be an important trigger for physiologic reactions, including increased risk of cardiovascular disease. The diagnosis of cancer also can cause high enough stress to see a noticeable increase in both heart disease and suicide", said Dr. Meir Stampfer, Professor of Nutrition and Epidemiology at the Harvard School of Public Health.

The new findings are a result of a collaborative study from researchers of Harvard University and the Karolinska Institute in Sweden.

"This study is certainly a wake-up call that there are other issues…that somebody could be at increased cardiovascular risk or increased suicide risk. The lesson [of the study] is more for physicians, that when they give out a diagnosis of prostate cancer, they should be thinking about this", said Bruce Trock, an Epidemiologist in the Department of Urology at Johns Hopkins.