Marital status and cancer survival trends

Among Norwegian cancer patients, never-married people—especially older men—showed growing excess mortality versus married peers over decades.

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How large was the cancer cohort?

441,556 women and men aged 30–89 at first tumour diagnosis.

What mortality pattern did unmarried patients show overall?

Significant excess mortality versus married patients in all unmarried categories.

What trend was seen for never-married men?

Excess mortality rose about 3.4 percentage points per decade.

Where was the adverse never-married trend concentrated?

Among patients diagnosed above age 70.

What did authors conclude about never-married survival?

Increasingly poor survival prospects vs married over four decades.

Which calendar period of diagnoses was studied?

1970 to 2007.

What covariates appeared in the main model?

Marital status, age, year, education, cancer location, time since diagnosis, and stage.

How did authors describe divorced patients’ trend?

Stability among the divorced compared with rising never-married disadvantage.

Why might younger never-married estimates be biased?

Rising cohabitation may misclassify partnered unmarried people.

What outcome domain does this study address?

Cancer survival/mortality by social factor (marital status).

Were analyses run separately by sex and time?

Yes—models for men and women in multi-year intervals.