A 2006 study revealed elevated psychological issues among cancer patients. Now, groundbreaking research from Katarina Sjövall at Lund University’s Academic Medical Center shows partners also experience declines in both physical and mental health.
Sjövall examined data from 11,076 partners—53% over 65 and more than half women—tracking their healthcare use in the two years following the cancer diagnosis of their spouse.
Partners of colon or lung cancer patients required psychological care three times more often after diagnosis. Even partners of prostate cancer patients showed significantly higher use of psychiatric services.
