Having a Spouse Improves the Odds of Surviving Colon Cancer

Colon cancer is the 4^th most common cancer in the USA, but little is known about the influence of marital status on the final outcome – until now.  Penn State College of Medicine and Brigham Young University researchers have analyzed 127,753 patient records, and published their findings in the journal Cancer Epidemiology. 

The subjects, who were diagnosed with colon cancer between 1992 and 2006, were classified as married, single, separated/divorced, or widowed.  Married people were diagnosed at an earlier stage of cancer, and sought more aggressive treatment, i.e. surgery. The stage at diagnosis was important information that would influence the outcome, and had to be taken into account in trying to show a specific association between marital status and death. 

The 5-year survival rate was 6% lower for single than for married subjects, for both men and women.  After making adjustments for age, race, cancer stage at diagnosis, and surgery or not, married patients had  significantly lower risks of death from cancer compared with single patients – in men 14% lower, and in women 13% lower.

The authors realize that marriage is a self-selected group; it’s difficult to be sure there are no significant differences between married and non-married people – people who marry can have different personalities, stress-responses, even nutritional behavior that’s not readily detectable.  The likely explanation for better survival, however, lies in the quasi-caregiver role of a spouse, which translates into a better outcome. (That’s what my wife thinks, anyway.)