AUTHOR=Pan Shu , Yan Na , Zhao Yuanyuan , Li Zhiwen 

TITLE=Marital status as an independent prognostic factor for patients of malignant pleural mesothelioma

JOURNAL=Frontiers in Medicine

VOLUME=9

YEAR=2022

URL=https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/medicine/articles/10.3389/fmed.2022.955619

DOI=10.3389/fmed.2022.955619

ISSN=2296-858X

ABSTRACT=<sec><title>Objectives</title><p>The prognostic impact of marital status on malignant pleural mesothelioma (MPM) is not investigated. This paper probes into the relationship between the prognosis of MPM and marital status.</p></sec><sec><title>Materials and methods</title><p>The Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results (SEER) database of American had been applied to choose eligible patients over the 2004–2015 periods. Moreover, cancer-specific survival (CSS) and overall survival (OS) of unmarried and married groups were compared.</p></sec><sec><title>Results</title><p>A total of 3,997 patients in total had been identified, including 2,735 (68.43%) married patients. In comparison to unmarried patients, married ones tended to be younger, male, white, and received active treatment (surgery, chemotherapy, or radiotherapy). In addition, the 1, 3, and 5-year CSS rates were 44.40, 12.09, and 6.88% in married patients, while 35.75, 12.12, and 6.37% in unmarried group (<italic>p</italic> = 0.0014). At the same time, the 1, 3, and 5-year OS rates were 41.84, 10.56, and 5.91% in married patients, while 33.67, 10.44, and 4.93%, respectively, in the unmarried group (<italic>p</italic> &lt; 0.0001). As revealed by the multivariate analysis results, the marital status was an independent favorable prognostic factor, in which the married groups showed better CSS [hazard ratio (<italic>HR</italic>): 0.870; 95% confidence interval (<italic>CI</italic>): 0.808–0.938; <italic>p</italic> &lt; 0.001] as well as OS (<italic>HR</italic>: 0.871; 95% <italic>CI</italic>: 0.810–0.936; <italic>p</italic> &lt; 0.001). According to the results of subgroup analysis, the CSS and <italic>OS</italic> survival of married groups were better than the unmarried groups in almost all the subgroups.</p></sec><sec><title>Conclusion</title><p>Marital status is an independent favorable prognostic indicator of MPM. Poor prognosis in unmarried patients is likely to be related to insufficient treatments and socioeconomic and psychosocial factors.</p></sec>