Lung Cancer Patients With a Supportive Spouse Survive Longer

Compared with patients with locally advanced lung cancer who are single, married patients are likely to survive longer, according to a study by researchers at the University of Maryland Marlene and Stewart Greenebaum Cancer Center in Baltimore.

The study involved 168 patients with stage III non–small cell lung cancer who received chemotherapy and radiation over a 10-year-period (January 2000 to December 2010). Researchers discovered that 33% of married patients were still alive after 3 years compared with 10% of the single patients, with women faring better than men. At 46%, married women had the best 3-year survival rate, and single men had the worst rate (3%). At 3 years, single women and married men had the same survival rate. White married patients had a better survival rate than married African-Americans.

“Marital status appears to be an important independent predictor of survival in patients with locally advanced non–small cell lung cancer,” says the study’s lead author, Elizabeth Nichols, MD, a radiation oncology resident at the University of Maryland Greenebaum Cancer Center. “The reason for this is unclear, but our findings suggest the importance of social support in managing and treating our lung cancer patients. Patients may need help with day-to-day activities, getting to treatment and making sure they receive proper follow-up care.”

Evaluated by a multidisciplinary team of radiation oncologists, surgeons, and medical oncologists at the Greenebaum Cancer Center, the patients were treated with a standard combination of radiation and chemotherapy, typically followed by additional rounds of chemotherapy. With a mean follow-up of 16 months, the mean survival was 13 months. Researchers used an analysis tool to estimate overall survival, with 21% of the patients alive at 3 years and 12% at 5 years.

“Not only do we need to continue to focus on finding new drugs and cancer therapies, but also on ways to better support our cancer patients,” says Nichols.

Source: University of Maryland Medical Center.