In honor of National Breast Cancer Awareness Month, online dating sites Date.com, Matchmaker.com and Amor.com, polled members to see what they would do if they entered a new relationship and their significant other was diagnosed with breast cancer.
Poll results indicated that 80% of single men would stay in the new relationship and, “Be her rock! If anything, getting through her sickness together could bring us closer as a couple.”
In the case of the women polled, 90% felt that a breast cancer diagnosis would
lead to immediately getting dumped, as many new relationships couldn't survive
the rigors of chemotherapy and treatment.
Women’s lack of faith in the male species aside, an extraordinary volume of research exists demonstrating how psychological factors affect health. In particular how social support and, more specifically, marital status affects natural killer cell (NKC) activity and immune function. NKC cells are a major component of the innate immune system and play a huge role in the rejection of tumors and cells infected by viruses. Not surprisingly, good relationships enhance NKC production and bad ones don’t.
Most research shows that married patients have improved cancer survival rates compared with unmarried patients, except in the case where there is marital discord. However much less information is available regarding differences in survival rates among the diverse, unmarried population. Little analysis exists of other marital status categories like: separation, divorced, widowed and never married.
According to a study authored by Gwen C. Sprehn and others and released by the American Cancer Society in August, a more detailed categorization of the relationship between marital status and cancer survival could yield important clues to the nature of the more global, previously established relations to cancer outcome.
The study whose original intent was to prove if “separated” individuals had a decreased cancer survival rate (they do) found that among women, unmarried women had the 2nd highest survival rate after 5-years at 64.58% just slightly below their married sisters. However it was the females whose marital status was unknown at the time of the survey that had the highest survival rate overall at 68.10%.
Although the authors of the study chose not to draw any conclusions from what they consider, missing data, the question remains, who are these “unknowns”? Are they women who are shacked up? Are they half of a “Living Apart Togethers” (LATS) - couples who are committed to each other but maintain two different homes? Or are they women who are just “dating”?
What do you think about the
poll results? Would he stay or would he
go?
