The relation of marriage with cancer outcomes

People, who are married when diagnosed with cancer live longer than those who are not, report researchers at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute and Brigham and Women's Hospital. Married patients also tended to have cancers diagnosed at an earlier stage – when it is often more successfully treated – and to receive more appropriate treatment. “Our data suggests that marriage can have a significant health impact for patients with cancer, and this was consistent among every cancer that we reviewed”, said Ayal Aizer, MD MHS, chief resident of the Harvard Radiation Oncology Program and the paper's first author. “We suspect that social support from spouses is what's driving the striking improvement in survival. Spouses often accompany patients on their visits and make sure they understand the recommendations and complete all their treatments”. “We don't just see our study as an affirmation of marriage, but rather it should send a message to anyone who has a friend or a loved one with cancer: by being there for that person and helping them navigate their appointments and make it through all their treatments, you can make a real difference to that person's outcome”, said the study's senior author Paul Nguyen, MD, a radiation oncologist at Dana-Farber and Brigham and Women's. “As oncologists, we need to be aware of our patients' available social supports and encourage them to seek and accept support from friends and family during this potentially difficult time”.