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OSLO, Norway, Oct. 14 (UPI) -- Married patients diagnosed with cancer may live longer than their unmarried counterparts, researchers in Norway say. In a study published in the journal BioMed Central, researchers reported single men who developed cancer were 35 percent more likely to die at a younger age than their married counterparts, a percentage that has grown in the past 40 years, the New York Daily News reported Friday.
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The same is true for single women, the study found, who are 22 percent more likely to die sooner than wedded women diagnosed with cancer, up from 17 percent in 1970.
The researchers said they believe married people are more diligent about following doctors' orders and staying with treatment.
The higher incidence of death for singles held regardless of age, education or kind of cancer, researchers said.
They said they based their findings on more than 440,000 death records from 1970 to 2010.
Hakon Kravdal of the University of Oslo and Dr. Astri Syse of the Cancer Registry of Norway looked at survival data from cancer patients and compared the data to their marital status -- married, never married, divorced/separated or widowed.
"The differences in survival between unmarried and married people with cancer could possibly be explained by better general health at time of diagnosis or better adherence to treatment regimes and follow ups," Kravdal said in a statement.
"One problem with this kind of study is that co-habiting people are scattered throughout the never married, divorced/separated, or widowed groups. Consequently, presuming co-habiters to have the same benefits as married couples, the actual differences between couples and singletons are probably much higher."
