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 disease. To assess the validity of this belief, we examined the role of breast cancer as a determinant of marital breakdown by comparing the frequencies of 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 nonmetastatic breast cancer in 1984 or during the period from 1990 through 1992 and then interviewed 3 months, 18 months, and 8 years after diagnosis (1984 cohort) or interviewed 2 weeks, 3 months, and 12 months after diagnosis (1990-1992 cohort). Population-based control subjects (four groups) were recruited through random-digit dialing and from participants in the Quebec Health Surveys for 1987 and 1992. Eligible subjects were those who were living with a spouse at the time of interview and those who reported divorce or separation in the time periods examined. Marital breakdown in the past 12 months and 5 years and current marital satisfaction and adjustment were assessed. 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 further 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 studied, breast cancer does not appear to be associated with marital breakdown among Quebec women. Marital difficulties occurred mainly among the small proportion of women who probably already had marital difficulties when diagnosed.