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.