Married people are more likely to survive cancer, scientists, including one of Indian-origin, have found.
Researchers at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute and Brigham and Women's Hospital found people who are married when diagnosed with cancer live longer than those who are not.
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, chief resident of the Harvard Radiation Oncology Programme 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," Aizer said.
Utilising the National Cancer Institute's Surveillance, Epidemiology and End Results Programme, the researchers conducted a retrospective analysis of 734,889 people who were diagnosed with cancer between 2004 and 2008.
They focused on the 10 leading causes of cancer deaths in the US: lung, colorectal, breast, pancreatic, prostate, liver/bile duct, non-Hodgkin lymphoma, head and neck, ovarian, and esophageal cancer.
Their analysis found that in comparison with married patients, unmarried cancer patients, including those who were widowed, were 17 per cent more likely to have metastatic cancer (cancer that spread beyond its original site) and were 53 per cent less likely to receive the appropriate therapy.
"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, a radiation oncologist at Dana-Farber and Brigham and Women's.
The study's authors include Ming-Hui Chen of the University of Connecticut, Storrs; Mallika Mendu and Sophia Koo of Brigham and Women's, among others.
The study was published in the Journal of Clinical Oncology.
