The impact of marital status on cancer survival.
Marital differentials in survival from 12 common types of cancer are assessed by estimating a mixed additive multiplicative hazard regression model on the basis of individual register and census data for the whole Norwegian population. These data cover the period 1960-91 and include more than 100,000 cancer deaths. The data and method make it possible to take into account the marital mortality differentialsin the absence of cancer. The excess all-cause mortality among cancer patients compared with similar persons without a cancer diagnosis is, on the whole, more than 15% higher for never-married men, never-married women and divorced men, than for the married of the same sex. Other previously married have an excess mortality elevated by about 7%. This protective effect of marriage is not due to stage, which is controlled for. The possible importance of treatment and host factors is discussed.
Kravdal
O
O
Department of Economics and Norwegian Cancer Registry, University of Oslo. okravdal@econ.uio.no
D000368:Aged; D002423:Cause of Death; D003644:Death Certificates; D004243:Divorce / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D004522:Educational Status; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D017533:Marital Status / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D008875:Middle Aged; D009369:Neoplasms / Q000401:mortality* / Q000473:pathology / Q000523:psychology / Q000628:therapy; D009664:Norway / Q000453:epidemiology; D011159:Population Surveillance; D016016:Proportional Hazards Models; D012042:Registries; D012847:Single Person / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D016019:Survival Analysis; D017805:Widowhood / Q000706:statistics & numerical data