Marriage Linked To Improved Odds Of Surviving Colon Cancer

Now here’s something interesting:

Married patients had a 14 percent lower risk of death according to researchers at Penn State’s College of Medicine and Brigham Young University. That estimate is based on analysis of 127,753 patient records.

Similar to studies of other types of cancers, the researchers did find that married people were diagnosed at earlier stages of colon cancer and sought more aggressive treatment. The researchers took those and other factors into account before calculating the benefit of marriage on survival odds.

“Controlling for the stage that the cancer was detected is key,” said Sven Wilson, a study coauthor and professor at Brigham Young University. “Without that, it’s hard to know whether the analysis is just picking up a diagnosis effect.”

According to the study, the benefits of marriage —in relation to colon cancer risks, anyway— were “nearly identical” for men and women.

Why would that be, you ask?

Spouses serve as an important informal caregiver during a critical time, and that extra support may translate into better disease management and, hence, better outcomes.

If this is correct, it’s actually very good news for all types of single folk since, last time I checked, having a support system in place through good times and bad doesn’t require a legal document.