Marital status affects treatment of cancer patients, research finds

TREATMENT of patients with advanced colorectal cancer varies according to marital status with singletons less likely to be operated on, it has emerged.

In addition, older unmarried males have a significantly higher risk of death from the disease.

The stark findings form part of a study on Patterns of Care for Colorectal Cancer in Ireland presented yesterday at a public health conference in University College Cork.

The research, presented by Alan Ó Céilleachair of the National Cancer Registry Ireland, looked at treatment of patients with the disease as well as mortality rates. Of more than 15,000 patients included in the study, 78% underwent cancer-directed surgery, 31% had chemotherapy and 13% had radiotherapy. However more than 2,500 patients received no cancer-directed treatment.

When asked about the “marriage affect” on cancer treatment offered to patients, Mr Ó Céilleachair said it was hard to gauge.

“It could be perhaps that where the spouse is pushing very hard to get treatment or where the physician sees the dependence of the spouse on the patient, that those factors influence the outcome,” he said.

However he said this explanation was “conjecture” and further research was needed to establish the reasons.

Separately, a study examining the association between mental illness and cancer found that psychiatric patients are more likely to die from the disease although their risk of developing the disease is no higher than the general population.

Professor Steve Kisely, from Dalhousie University in Halifax, Canada, said most people assumed psychiatric patients had higher death rates from cancer because of unhealthy lifestyles such as smoking and drinking more.

However Mr Kisely said it was possible doctors attributed symptoms such as low energy levels and poor appetite in psychiatric patients to a side-effect of their mental illness rather than assessing them for the possibility of a physical illness.

Mr Kisely said doctors should apply the same index of suspicion to all patients displaying symptoms of illness “and at least determine if there is a physical reason behind them”.

Mr Kisely was speaking yesterday at the joint meeting of the Society for Social Medicine and the International Epidemiological Association in UCC.