一項刊登在國際雜誌Cancer上的研究論文中，來自加州癌症預防學會的研究人員表示，結婚戒指或許是抵禦癌症的強大藥物，研究者在文章中指出，對於癌症而言，已婚人士似乎擁有顯著的生存優勢，相比已經結婚的男性患者而言，單身的男性癌症患者的死亡率要高於前者27%，而單身女性癌症患者的死亡率要高於已婚女性死亡率的19%。
文章作者Scarlett Lin Gomez說道，我們發現的這種效應非常顯著，過去10至15年的研究結果表明，婚姻對於癌症患者也存在類似的效應，而這種效應總是因為已婚人士的配偶給予的支持和關愛。但已婚個體更趨向於有較高的混合性收入和更好的保險體係，為此研究人員決定進一步研究來揭示是否金錢在已婚配偶的生存率上扮演著重要角色。
研究人員分析了來自加州80萬名個體的健康記錄，這些個體在2000至2009年間均被診斷出患有侵襲性的癌症，而且研究者對這些個體一直追蹤觀察到2012年；研究者表示，財力狀況對個體擊敗癌症的機會並不具有一定影響，反而來自配偶的關懷和支持是癌症患者獲益且提高生存率的關鍵，比如帶著他/她去定期進行檢查，給對方準備一頓營養的餐食，並且提醒對方按時服藥等。
已婚的癌症患者往往會從情感上的支持獲益，而這會減少患者的壓力並且改善患者疾病進展的步伐；Gregory Masters博士說道，致力於護理事業的價值或許對於改善癌症病人的生存率非常有必要，本文研究結果或許並不是僅對於改善癌症患者的生存有效，我們都知道不論疾病困擾，當兩個人結為伴侶共同生活扶持，他們或許也會變得比較長壽。
研究者表示，結婚對個體生存的有益影響或許在各種族人群中都表現不同，白人或許會因結婚獲益較多，而西班牙裔的美國人和太平洋島居民或許獲益較少，而出生在美國的西班牙裔的美國人和太平洋島居民相比出生在國外的個體而言獲益的程度又會增加。
doi:10.1002/cncr.29885
PMC:
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Effects of maritalstatusand economic resources on survival after cancer: A population-based study
Scarlett Lin Gomez PhD1,2,3, ,*, Susan Hurley MPH1, , Alison J. Canchola MS1, Theresa H. M. Keegan PhD4, Iona Cheng PhD1,3, James D. Murphy MD5, Christina A. Clarke PhD1,2,3, Sally L. Glaser PhD1,2,3 andMaría Elena Martínez PhD4,5,6
BACKGROUND Although married cancerpatientshave more favorable survival than unmarried patients, reasons underlying this association are not fully understood. The authors evaluated the role of economic resources, including health insurance status and neighborhood socioeconomic status (nSES), in a large California cohort. METHODS From the California Cancer Registry, we identified 783,167 cancer patients (386,607 deaths) who were diagnosed during 2000 through 2009 with a first primary, invasive cancer of the 10 most common sites of cancer-related death for each sex and were followed through 2012. Age-stratified and stage-stratified Cox proportional hazard models were used to estimate hazard ratios (HRs) and 95% confidence intervals (95% CIs) for all-cause mortality associated with marital status, adjusted for cancer site, race/ethnicity, and treatment. RESULTS Compared with married patients, unmarried patients had an elevated risk of mortality that was higher among males (HR, 1.27; 95% CI, 1.26-1.29) than among females (HR, 1.19; 95% CI, 1.18-1.20; Pinteraction <.001). Adjustment for insurance status and nSES reduced the marital status HRs to 1.22 for males and 1.15 for females. There was some evidence of synergistic effects of marital status, insurance, and nSES, with relatively higher risks observed for unmarried status among those who were under-insured and living in high nSES areas compared with those who were under-insured and living in low nSES areas (Pinteraction = 6.8 × 10 9 among males and 8.2 × 10 8 among females). CONCLUSIONS The worse survival of unmarried than married cancer patients appears to be minimally explained by differences in economic resources.
