Adults who have never married may face a much higher risk of developing cancer than those who are or have been married, according to a large U.S. study analyzing more than 4 million cases. The elevated risk was seen across nearly all major cancer types and was especially strong for preventable cancers linked to infections, smoking, and reproductive factors.
Conducted by researchers at the Sylvester Comprehensive Cancer Center at the University of Miami Miller School of Medicine and published in Cancer Research Communications, the study examined data from 12 states covering more than 4 million cancer cases within a population exceeding 100 million people between 2015 and 2022. Never-married men had about five times the rate of anal cancer compared with married men, while never-married women had nearly three times the rate of cervical cancer. Both cancers are strongly linked to HPV infection.
Never-married men were about 70% more likely to develop cancer than married men, while never-married women had about an 85% higher risk compared with women who were or had been married. Dr. Paulo Pinheiro, study co-author and physician-scientist at Sylvester, stated: “These findings suggest that social factors such as marital status may serve as important markers of cancer risk at the population level.” Dr. Frank Penedo, associate director for population sciences, emphasized that “it means that if you’re not married, you should be paying extra attention to cancer risk factors, getting any screenings you may need, and staying up to date on health care.”
This article is an AI-assisted summary. All facts and figures are drawn from the original report: https://scitechdaily.com/landmark-study-links-never-marrying-to-significantly-higher-cancer-risk/