A group of researchers, including senior author and OCRF grantee Anil Sood, MD examined how social support related to long term survival. Two types of social support were considered: social attachment, a type of emotional support reflecting connections with others, and instrumental social support, which reflects the availability of tangible assistance.
The analysis of 168 ovarian cancer patients, who were followed from surgery until the time of death, showed that greater social attachment was associated with a lower likelihood of death. 59% of patients with high social attachment were still alive after 4.70 years. By contrast, the median survival time for patients with low social attachment categorized was 3.35 years.
No significant association was found between instrumental social support and survival.
The authors conclude that “Social attachment is associated with a survival advantage for patients with ovarian cancer. Clinical implications include the importance of screening for deficits in the social environment and consideration of support activities during adjuvant treatment.”
http://jco.ascopubs.org/content/early/2012/07/16/JCO.2011.39.4411.abstract?maxtoshow=&HITS=10&hits=5&RESULTFORMAT=&andorexacttitle=and&titleabstract=ovarian+cancer&andorexacttitleabs=phrase&andorexactfulltext=and&searchid=1&usestrictdates=yes&resourcetype=HWCIT&ct
- Susan K. Lutgendorf⇓,
- Koen De Geest,
- David Bender,
- Amina Ahmed,
- Michael J. Goodheart,
- Laila Dahmoush,
- M. Bridget Zimmerman,
- Frank J. Penedo,
- Joseph A. Lucci III,
- Parvin Ganjei-Azar,
- Premal H. Thaker,
- Luis Mendez,
- David M. Lubaroff,
- George M. Slavich,
- Steven W. Cole and
- Anil K. Sood
+ Author Affiliations
- Corresponding author: Susan Lutgendorf, PhD, Departments of Psychology, Urology, and Obstetrics and Gynecology, University of Iowa, E11 Seashore Hall, Iowa City, IA 52242; e-mail: susan-lutgendorf@uiowa.edu.
Abstract
Purpose Previous research has demonstrated relationships of social support with disease-related biomarkers in patients with ovarian cancer. However, the clinical relevance of these findings to patient outcomes has not been established. This prospective study examined how social support relates to long-term survival among consecutive patients with ovarian cancer. We focused on two types of social support: social attachment, a type of emotional social support reflecting connections with others, and instrumental social support reflecting the availability of tangible assistance.
Patients And methods Patients were prospectively recruited during a presurgical clinic visit and completed surveys before surgery. One hundred sixty-eight patients with histologically confirmed epithelial ovarian cancer were observed from the date of surgery until death or December 2010. Clinical information was obtained from medical records.
Results In a Cox regression model, adjusting for disease stage, grade, histology, residual disease, and age, greater social attachment was associated with a lower likelihood of death (hazard ratio [HR], 0.87; 95% CI, 0.77 to 0.98; P = .018). The median survival time for patients with low social attachment categorized on a median split of 15 was 3.35 years (95% CI, 2.56 to 4.15 years). In contrast, by study completion, 59% of patients with high social attachment were still alive after 4.70 years. No significant association was found between instrumental social support and survival, even after adjustment for covariates.
Conclusion Social attachment is associated with a survival advantage for patients with ovarian cancer. Clinical implications include the importance of screening for deficits in the social environment and consideration of support activities during adjuvant treatment.
- Received September 29, 2011.
- Accepted May 16, 2012.
