Marital status affects prognosis after breast cancer diagnosis: study

Dependability is one of the top qualities people look for in a spouse and it's good too, especially for a breast cancer patient, proves a recent study.

According to a study published in the journal of Cancer Medicine, among 298,434 patients diagnosed with breast cancer between 2004 and 2012, only married patients had a better prognosis than patients who were single.

Further, single ladies had a better prognosis than those who were divorced, separated, or widowed.

When considering race and tumour characteristics, the better prognosis of single patients was only observed in white patients and in patients with tumours expressing estrogen receptors and progesterone receptors.

In the study, a better prognosis was maintained for married patients among all age subgroups, but for single patients, it was seen only in those older than 35 years.

"Our study demonstrates that patients with breast cancer could gain significant benefits from marriage and indicates the importance of psychosocial support to patients with unfavourable marriage," said co-author of the study Zhijun Dai.