on PinterestA recent study has linked being or having been married to a reduced cancer risk.
on PinterestA recent study has linked being or having been married to a reduced cancer risk. Image Credit: Ivy Calder/Getty Images
- A recent study shows there may be a connection between those who are or have been married and reduced incidents of cancer.
- This adds to a growing body of research that links marriage to improved health outcomes.
- This is not to say that people must get or be married to have health and cancer benefits.
The concept of marriage is in flux in society. In fact, recent data show that marriage rates in the United States are actually falling.
A recent study published in the journal Cancer Research Communications suggests that being or having been married may be associated with reduced cancer risk. This means that, according to the data, many people may be missing out on the health benefits of marriage.
However, there are some who say that the societal concept of marriage being “better” than being single may skew data and the interpretations of it.
“People start from the assumption ‘Marriage: good. No marriage: bad’ and interpret things in ways that do not make sense in terms of actual data,” Joan DelFattore, PhD, professor emerita of English and legal studies at the and someone who has written about cancer and marital status for academic journals and mass media, told CNN. Delfattore wasn’t involved in the study.
She added that this bias, which is embedded in medical training and research, often leads to conclusions that may be “over-simplified.”
The recent study showed, however, that statistically, people who had an “ever-married” status had a lower incident rate of cancer than those who had “never-married.” The researchers identified “ever-married” to include married, separated, divorced, or widowed individuals.
“This demonstrates that marriage confers not only known social benefits but also downstream physiological benefits, highlighting the unity between mind and body, and between social, mental, and physical health,” said Deborah Vinall, PsyD, LMFT, and Chief Psychological Officer with Recovered, who was not involved in the study.
“Loneliness is known to be fatal. This study makes that finding more concrete,” Vinall said.
While this study may show another potential health benefit of marriage, more research is needed.
Can marriage really prevent cancer?
The study analyzed data from the Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results (SEER) program, focusing on adults ages 30 and older in 12 states.
The researchers found that among never-married males, cancer rates were 68% higher than those of males in the ever-married group. For never-married females, the rate was 85% higher than that of females in the ever-married group.
“With how heterogeneous both cancer and individual behaviors can be, this is a nuanced question but to generalize broadly, being married is known to decrease exposure to many of the risk factors associated with various malignancies,” said Ketan Thanki, MD, board certified colorectal surgeon who specializes in benign and malignant disease of the colon, rectum, and anus with the MemorialCare Todd Cancer Institute at Long Beach Medical Center. Thanki wasn’t involved in the study.
The research team notes
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