Marital stability after breast cancer

Background: The belief that husbands desert wives who have breast cancer is not uncommon and may be a source of stress for women confronting this dise ase. To assess the validity of this belief, we examined the role of breast cancer as a determinant of marital breakdown by comparing the frequencies o f marital breakdown among women with breast cancer and among control women from Quebec City and surrounding regions, Methods: Secondary analyses were performed on data collected from women who were newly diagnosed with nonmet astatic breast cancer in 1984 or during the period from 1990 through 1992 a nd then interviewed 3 months, 18 months, and 8 years after diagnosis (1984 cohort) or interviewed 2 weeks, 3 months, and 12 months after diagnosis (19 90-1992 cohort). Population-based control subjects (four groups) were recru ited through random-digit dialing and from participants in the Quebec Healt h Surveys for 1987 and 1992. Eligible subjects were those who were living w ith a spouse at the time of interview and those who reported divorce or sep aration in the Lime periods examined. Marital breakdown in the past 12 mont hs and 5 years and current marital satisfaction and adjustment were assesse d. All P values are two-sided. Results: Marital breakdown was never higher in women with breast cancer than in control women. Among women with breast cancer, low marital satisfaction within 3 months of diagnosis predicted fur ther marital difficulties (a breakdown-P =.02 at 12-month interview and P = .01 at 18-month interview; low marital satisfaction-P < .0001 at 12-month interview and P = .005 at 18-month interview). Conclusions: For the times s tudied, breast cancer does not appear to be associated with marital breakdo wn among Quebec women. Marital difficulties occurred mainly among the small proportion of women who probably already had marital difficulties when dia gnosed.