Marriage and mortality in bladder carcinoma.
BACKGROUND
Being married confers significant benefits in survival for patients with a variety of chronic conditions including breast and prostate carcinoma. The authors attempted to determine whether marital status is associated with survival in patients undergoing radical cystectomy for bladder carcinoma.


METHODS
The authors identified 7262 subjects from the Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results public-use database who underwent radical cystectomy for transitional cell carcinoma of the bladder. They performed survival analyses using Kaplan-Meier estimates and Cox proportional hazards models. The authors created multivariate models to evaluate the independent association between marital status and survival, controlling for pathologic stage, lymph node status, age, race/ethnicity, and gender.


RESULTS
Married subjects were older and more often male, white, and had earlier disease stage at diagnosis. Married subjects had significantly better survival than did single or widowed subjects (P < 0.001), and married subjects revealed a trend toward better survival than separated/divorced subjects (P = 0.20). Multivariate modeling revealed that compared with single subjects, those who were married had better survival, independent of age at the time of diagnosis, gender, race/ethnicity, disease stage, and lymph node status (P < 0.001).


CONCLUSIONS
Marriage was associated with improved survival in patients with bladder carcinoma, independent of other factors known to influence mortality in this population. Although the mechanisms underlying this survival advantage are unknown, possibilities include differences in cancer screening, risk behaviors, and access to medical care. The interaction between psychosocial factors and the body's immune function may further explain the differential survival in this cohort.
Gore
John L
JL
Department of Urology, David Geffen School of Medicine, University of California-Los Angeles, 90095, USA. jgore@mednet.ucla.edu
Kwan
Lorna
L
Saigal
Christopher S
CS
Litwin
Mark S
MS
D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D015653:Cystectomy; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008393:Marriage; D008875:Middle Aged; D015999:Multivariate Analysis; D018426:SEER Program; D001749:Urinary Bladder Neoplasms / Q000401:mortality* / Q000601:surgery