Document Type

Article

Journal Title

PLoS One

Publication Date

Summer 6-15-2011

Volume

6

Abstract

BACKGROUND: Recent findings suggest that marital status affects survival in patients with different types of cancer. However, its role in the survival of patients with pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma is unknown. In this study, we investigated whether there was an association between marital status and overall survival (OS) in patients with pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC).

METHODS: Adult patients diagnosed with PDAC between 1998 and 2003 with known marital statuses were identified from the Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results registry of the National Cancer Institute. OS for these patients was plotted using the Kaplan-Meier method. Comparative risks of mortality were evaluated by using univariate and multivariate-adjusted Cox regression models.

RESULTS: Using Kaplan-Meier analysis, we found that the median overall survival of patients was 4 months and 3 months (p

CONCLUSIONS: Marital status is an independent prognostic factor of both perioperative and long-term survival in patients with PDAC. This observation may suggest a suboptimally met psychosocial need among PDAC patients that is partially fulfilled by the support system provided by marriage.

MeSH Headings

Aged, Carcinoma, Pancreatic Ductal, Female, Humans, Male, Marriage, Middle Aged, Pancreatic Neoplasms, SEER Program, Survival Analysis

ISSN

1932-6203

Creative Commons License

Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

Download
COinS