299039
Marital status and survival among bladder cancer patients in Kentucky, USA: 2000–2011
Methods: A population-based survival analysis was conducted among 6220 patients diagnosed with bladder cancer reported to the Kentucky Cancer Registry (KCR) from 2000-2011 and linked with state vital records and the National Death Index through 12/31/2011. A standard Kaplan – Meier approach was used in this survival analysis and Cox Proportional Hazards modeling was used to estimate adjusted hazard [aHR] ratios and 95% confidence intervals [CI] for marital status and survival for all cause and bladder cancer specific cause of death.
Results: In our adjusted model, cases who were divorced or separated were 63% more likely to die of any cause (aHR=1.63;95% CI=1.42-1.88) and 27% more likely to die of bladder cancer (aHR=1.27;95% CI=1.00-1.66) compared to married cases. Single cases were 58% more likely to die of any cause (aHR=1.58;95% CI=1.36-1.84) and 40% more likely to die of bladder cancer compared to married cases (aHR=1.40;95%=1.10-1.78). While widowed cases were 35% more likely to die of any cause (aHR=1.35;95% CI=1.22-1.50), there was not a significant association between widowed cases and death from bladder cancer.
Conclusion: These data strongly suggest that being married improves bladder cancer survival after adjusting for demographics, stage, insurance, and treatment received.
Learning Areas:
Chronic disease management and preventionEpidemiology
Learning Objectives:
Discuss the differences in cancer survivorship by marital status
Demonstrate awareness among the general public, policy makers, survivors, providers, and others of cancer survivorship and its impact
Explain the cancer survivorship-related objectives in Healthy People 2020 that include benchmarks for success in measuring improvements for addressing ongoing survivorship
Keyword(s): Cancer, Epidemiology
Qualified on the content I am responsible for because: I practiced epidemiology for over 5 years working in local and state government. Additionally, I worked as a research coordinator on several grants that focused on the epidemiology of chronic and communicable diseases. As a doctoral student, my scientific interest is cancer epidemiology, particularly survivorship of cancer patients.
Any relevant financial relationships? No
I agree to comply with the American Public Health Association Conflict of Interest and Commercial Support Guidelines, and to disclose to the participants any off-label or experimental uses of a commercial product or service discussed in my presentation.