Why being married could stop you dying of cancer

BEING married increases your chances of beating cancer, experts have revealed.

An analysis of 60,000 patients over ten years found single or unmarried patients with the disease were a fifth more likely to die.

Researchers say having a spouse or family gives sufferers ‘something to live for’ and makes them far more determined to beat the illness.

Patients’ other halves – particularly wives – are more likely to ‘hassle’ them to see a doctor about any worrying symptoms or remind them to go to chemotherapy appointments.

Researchers from the University of California in San Diego presented their findings at the American Society for Clinical Oncology conference this week. They looked at the records of 60,000 men and women with leukaemia and other types of blood cancer between 2000 and 2009.

On average, patients who were not married were 21 per cent more likely to die than their married counterparts.

But among those with follicular lymphoma – a rare blood cancer – the unmarried had a 43 per cent higher chance of dying. And the figure was 37 per cent for Hodgkin lymphoma sufferers.

Dr Matthew Wieduwilt, assistant clinical professor at the university, said: ‘Single patients often present at a later stage and are sicker.

‘If you are single you don’t have someone at home nagging at you to get checked out.

‘This is particularly true with men. Women tend to have more support even if they are single.’

He added: ‘Married people and people with families are more likely to stick to treatment. They have a support system making them go to chemo, reminding them to take their medication.

‘They are also more motivated to seek out healthcare. To put it bluntly, they have something to live for. These results show that health services need to take more care of single patients – they need to be the surrogate for a spouse.

‘Single people often don’t look after themselves.’

The university’s Professor Maria Elena Martinez, who was also involved in the study, said: ‘Being single should be a red flag for doctors. If a cancer patient comes in without a family member or spouse it should be a warning sign.

‘Medical staff need to ask the patient about the support at home. Doctors need to go that little bit extra with single patients.’

Previous research has shown that married couples are more likely to survive heart attacks, overcome high-risk surgery and also tend to live longer.

Adrienne Betteley, interim head of health and social care at the charity Macmillan Cancer Support, said: ‘We know that a cancer diagnosis can leave people feeling very lonely and that this can have a detrimental effect on their lives, with many forced to skip meals or attend vital appointments alone. At worst it can result in patients refusing treatment altogether.’

Cancer Research UK’s senior clinical adviser, Professor Arnie Purushotham, said it is ‘unclear why married people in this study seem to have better outcomes’.

But he added: ‘It may be that cancer patients who have close support of partners do better and this may be due to sticking with their treatment better and a network of social support. Developing such a network of support may benefit all cancer patients.’