Tag: married cancer patients

Married people with cancer have better survival odds than their single peers—and not for money reasons, a U.S. study suggests.

Unmarried men were 27 percent more likely to die of their tumors, and single women were 19 percent more likely, the study found.

Married people generally had better health insurance and lived in better neighborhoods, but single patients still fared worse even after accounting for these financial reasons for the marriage advantage.

"It seems that the major contributing factor is greater social support, and less social isolation, among married patients," said study leader Scarlett Lin Gomez of the University of California, San Diego.