COLUMBUS, Ohio, Dec. 9 (UPI) -- Women with breast cancer who have a poor relationship with their spouses may face a more difficult road to recovery, U.S. researchers said.
Study co-author Hae-Chung Yang of Ohio State University of Columbus found that, over five years, patients in distressed marriages had higher levels of stress, less physical activity, slower recovery and more symptoms and signs of illness than did similar patients who reported good marriages.
"The quality of the marital relationship may not be the first thing women worry about when they get a cancer diagnosis," Yang said in a statement. "But it may have a significant impact on how they cope physically and emotionally."
The study, scheduled to be published in the journal Cancer, found that the advantages for women with good relationships held true even though the researchers took into account the patients' depression levels, cancer stage, treatment, and other factors that could have influenced the results.
The study involved 100 women who have participated in the long-running Stress and Immunity Breast Cancer Project at Ohio State. All of the women were married or cohabiting at the time they entered the study and remained so during the five years they were followed.
"Our results suggest that the increases in stress and other problems that come with a distressed marital relationship can have real health consequences, and lead to a poorer recovery from cancer."
