A recent study showed that marriages affected by cancer and multiple sclerosis show a divorce rate of about 12%, which is the same as the normal population.
The study was done on 515 patients (about evenly split between the sexes) that were grouped by diagnosis-214 malignant primary brain tumor, 193 solid tumor unrelated to the central nervous system and 108 with multiple sclerosis. In all 3 types of disease, women consistently showed a higher divorce rate.
Researchers suggest women are more adaptable and committed to the role of caregiver than men.
"Part of it is a sense of self-preservation, and in men that seems to operate very highly and they don't feel this codependence, this requirement to nurture their significant other who has this life-threatening illness," said study researcher Dr. Marc Chamberlain, director of the neuro-oncology program at the Seattle Cancer Care Alliance (SCCA), "but rather decide what's best for me is to find an alternative mate and abandon my fatally flawed spouse."
However, it seems that divorce is counterintuitive to what is best for the patient. Patients either divorced or separated had a higher rate of hospitalization, were less likely to look for alternative treatments, participate in clinical trials, complete treatment and more likely to die at home.
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