Getting hitched has been linked to a variety of health benefits like longer life and lower risk of depression and heart disease. However, the benefits don't stop there - new research reveals that marriage can also combat against cancer, especially among certain ethnicities.
New research from the University of California San Diego wanted to take a deeper look at how marital status influences cancer survival by examining differences in ethnicity. The researchers found that male non-Hispanic white singles experienced the worst cancer outcomes with a 24 percent. While unmarried women were also more likely to suffer worse cancer outcomes compared to married women, the study revealed that the cancer outcome difference was more significant among men. Study results revealed that unmarried non-Hispanic white females had a 17 percent increase mortality, and single Asian/Pacific Islander females had a 6 percent increase in cancer death compared to their married counterparts.
"Oncologists should be aware that an increase in cancer mortality is a real outcome among unmarried individuals," said María Elena Martínez, UC San Diego Moores Cancer Center Sam M. Walton Endowed Chair for Cancer Research, who led the study. "Physicians treating unmarried patients should ask if there is someone within their social network available to help the individual physically and emotionally during treatment. More attention should be paid to this consistent and adverse health effect of being unmarried."
The latest study involved data from 393,470 men and 389,697 women in the California Cancer Registry. Besides differences in ethnicity in cancer survival, researchers found that location of birth also influenced cancer survival rates.
Surprisingly, being born outside of the United States was linked to better rates of cancer survival.
"The results suggest that the more acculturated you become to U.S. culture, the more it impacts cancer survivorship," said Martínez, co-director of the Reducing Cancer Disparities research program at Moores Cancer Center. "Our hypothesis is that non-Hispanic whites don't have the same social network as other cultures that have stronger bonds with family and friends outside of marriage. As individuals acculturate they tend to lose those bonds."
"It's also been shown that women seek out help for health concerns more frequently than men, and women tend to remind spouses to see their physicians and live a healthy lifestyle," she added.
"Research is needed to understand the specific reasons behind these associations so that future unmarried patients can receive interventions to increase their chances of survival," concluded Martinez.
The findings are published in the journal Cancer.
