People who are married fare much better in the face of cancer than others, researchers reported last night.
Having a spouse tends to mean people seek earlier diagnosis and get better support during treatment than others, doctors said.
The findings come from a major study of the fate of more than 700,000 cancer patients in the USA.
Researchers found that unmarried patients were 17% more likely than others to develop a secondary cancer.
They were also half as likely as married patients to receive the best treatment.
The findings were published in the Journal of Clinical Oncology.
The researchers studied patients who developed the ten cancers responsible for the most cancer deaths in the USA, including those with breast and lung cancer.
Researcher Dr Ayal Aizer, of the Harvard Radiation Oncology Program, Massachusetts, said: "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.
"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."
Fellow researcher Dr Paul Nguyen, of the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, Massachusetts, added: "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."
Journal of Clinical Oncology 23 September 2013
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