Jing Li¹, Zhu Wang¹, Xin Yuan¹, Hui Zhu¹, Lichun Xu², Jiandong Tong¹

¹Department of Oncology,YangZhou NO.1 People’s Hospital, The Second Clinical School of Yangzhou University, Yangzhou, Jiangsu Province, ²Research Center of Cancer Prevention and Treatment, Medical College of Yangzhou University,Yangzhou, Jiangsu Province

Objective:Research indicates an association betweenmarital status and health but this link hasn't been thoroughly explored. Ourgoal was to examine the association of marital status on the survival outcomesof patients with colorectal neuroendocrine tumors (NENs). Method: Inthis study, we used the Surveillance, Epidemiology and End Results program toidentify 1,289 patients diagnosed in 2004 through 2010 with colorectalendocrine tumor. Statistical analysis using Chi-square, Kaplan–Meier, and Coxregression proportional hazards was performed. Result: Patients in thewidowed group had the highest proportion of larger tumor (>50px), and higherratio of poor grade (Grade III and IV) and advanced tumor stage. The overall5-year cause specific survival(CSS) was 76% in the married group, 51% in thewidowed group, 73% in the single group, and 72% in the divorced/ separatedgroup, which were significantly different according to the univariate log-ranktest (P<0.001). And married status was also validated as anindependent prognosis factors in a Cox regression model. Conclusion: Unmarriedpatients, especially widow patients were at greater risk of cancer specificmortality from colorectal NENs. This study highlights that social support maywell be amenable to intervention and may lead to improved outcomes.

Key Words: colorectal neuroendocrineneoplasms  marital status  prognostic analysis