A positive attitude does not improve the chances of surviving cancer and doctors who encourage patients to keep up hope may be burdening them, according to new research.

Optimism made no difference in the fate of most of the 179 cancer patients that researchers followed over five years in Australia.

Only eight people were still living by the time the study ended in 2001.

All the patients studied were suffering from a common form of lung cancer. Although the study was small and dealt with a kind of cancer that offers little chance for survival (about 12% of patients live beyond five years), health experts say it is the first scientifically valid look at optimism and cancer.

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The study found that optimism dimmed when patients experienced the toxic effects of cancer treatment and when they learned more about the realities of the disease.

"We should question whether it is valuable to encourage optimism if it results in the patient concealing his or her distress in the misguided belief that this will afford survival benefits," the study's lead author, Penelope Schofield, wrote.