The impact of marriage on bladder cancer mortality
Nelles JL et al. - In a study to see if married pts with bladder cancer had a survival advantage vs nonmarried pts, it was concluded that there is a significant risk to widowed men, particularly older widowed men. This risk is independent of age, race, stage, and may reflect the pt's willingness to seek medical treatment in addition to psychoneuroimmune factors. Methods- The SEER database contains data on 127,015 pts diagnosed with bladder cancer between 1973 and 2002.
- Using multivariate Cox proportional hazard regression analyses, the impact of marital status was examined on survival after diagnosis with bladder cancer.
- Age, race, AJCC stage, radiation and chemotherapy, and cystectomy were other variables analyzed.
Results- Marital status did not appear to have a significant survival effect for women.
- Men who were widowed had a risk of death of 1.74 relative to married men.
- For widowed men over 70, this effect was even more pronounced, with a risk of death of 2.1.
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