Widowhood and divorce in relation to overall survival among middle-aged Norwegian women with cancer

Abstract

The aim of the study was to examine the relations between widowhood and divorce and overall survival among women with cancer. All Norwegian women born between 1935 and 1954, and diagnosed with cancer between 1966 and 1990, were followed up until 1991. In all, 14,231 cases were followed up for a median length of approximately 4.5 years (mean = 6 years), and 4311 women died during follow-up. In addition to overall cancer, separate analyses have been made for cancer at specific sites. Widows had a risk of dying which was nearly identical to that of married women for all sites except colorectal cancer, for which widows had a 2-fold increased death rate compared with married women. Divorced women had an overall increased hazard ratio of 1.17 (95% CI 1.07-1.27), which was confined to cancer of the breast, lung and cervix. With few clear exceptions women with children had a better survival than nulliparous women (overall hazard ratio = 0.80, 95% CI 0.74-0.87).