Marital status and survival in patients with primary liver cancer

作者:He, Xing-kang; Lin, Zheng-hua; Qian, Yun; Xia, Daheng; Jin, Piaopiao; Sun, Lei-min*
来源:Oncotarget, 2017, 8(39): 64954-64963.
DOI:10.18632/oncotarget.11066

摘要

Background: Marital status is viewed as an independent prognostic factor for survival in various cancer types. However, its role in primary liver cancer has yet to be thoroughly explored. @@@ Objective: To investigate the impact of marital status on survival outcomes among liver cancer patients. @@@ Results: We finally identified 40,809 eligible liver cancer patients between 2004 and 2012, including 21,939 (53.8%) patients were married at diagnosis and 18,870 (46.2%) were unmarried (including 5,871 divorced/separated, 4,338 widowed and 8,660 single). Married patients enjoyed overall and cause-specific survival outcomes compared with patients who were divorced/separated, widowed, single, respectively. The survival benefit associated with marriage still persisted even after adjusted for known confounders. Widowed individuals were at greater risk of overall and cancer-specific mortality compared to other groups. Similar associations were observed in subgroup analyses according to SEER stage. Materials and @@@ Methods: We used the Surveillance, Epidemiology and End Results (SEER) database to identify 40,809 patients diagnosed with primary liver cancer between 2004 and 2012. Kaplan-Meier analysis and Cox regression were performed to identify the influence of marital status on overall survival (OS) and liver cancer-specific survival (CSS). @@@ Conclusions: In primary liver cancer patients, married patients enjoyed survival benefits while widowed persons suffered survival disadvantages in both overall survival and cancer-specific survival.