Marriage linked to better cancer outcomes
People who are married when diagnosed with cancer live longer than those who are not, report researchers at Harvard-affiliated 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. The study’s findings will be published online today by the Journal of Clinical Oncology. “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, 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.” Utilizing the National Cancer Institute’s Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results...