Marital Status Predicts Melanoma Stage at Diagnosis – But Why?

Source: Cancer Therapy Advisor, June 2018

Marital status is associated with earlier skin-cancer diagnosis, with married patients diagnosed at earlier tumor stages, when melanoma is more readily cured, according to a retrospective analysis of more than 52,000 patients in the National Cancer Institute’s Surveillance, Epidemiology and End Results (SEER) database.¹
Widowed patients were three times more likely than married people to be diagnosed with late-stage localized melanoma. The results were published in the journal JAMA Dermatology.¹
The study showed that married patients were more likely to adhere to clinical guidelines and undergo sentinel lymph node biopsy (SNLB) when indicated, said lead study author Cimarron Sharon, MD, of the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia.