Study: Women with Brain Tumors Have 10 Times Higher Rate of Divorce as Men with Brain Tumors

[ASCO Annual Meeting]

Carlson, Robert H.
SAN FRANCISCO-As if having a brain tumor weren't bad enough, it appears that women diagnosed with primary brain tumors have almost 10 times the risk for divorce as men with the same disease.
Researchers at the University of Massachusetts in Worcester and the Norris Cancer Center in Los Angeles, who compared date from brain tumor patients with patients who had other cancers or other neurological diseases, said they believed the reasons for these divorces were primarily social and cultural rather than medical.
The majority were the result of the husband leaving the marriage, said Michael J. Glantz, MD, a neuro-oncologist at UMass. In some cases it was a decision made because the women could better be cared for by their families, Dr. Glantz added, during a presentation here at the American Society of Clinical Oncology's most recent Annual Meeting.
The study was conceived when Dr. Glantz and colleagues noted the incredible increase in frequency of divorce and separation among patients surviving primary brain tumors, he explained. The researchers also studied the divorce rate among patients with multiple sclerosis and Parkinson's disease, representative of non-malignant central nervous system disease, as well as the rate in a population of patients with cancer not involving the nervous system.
Data were prospectively collected on 259 consecutive patients with gliomas referred to neuro-oncology services and analyzed to determine the frequency of formal separation or divorce. Additional evaluations included patient age, sex, tumor type and location, Karnofsky Performance Score, duration of marriage, family structure, education, and income.
Figure. Michael J. Glantz, MD

Among the 183 patients with gliomas who were married at the time of their tumor diagnoses, 17 were divorced or separated during the course of their illness. Fourteen of those were female patients, for an odds ratio of 9.95 when compared with the men who were divorced during their illness.
The median follow-up was only 14 months, due to the short survival of patients with primary brain tumors, Dr. Glantz noted.
Among 107 consecutive married MS patients, there were 26 divorces-25 in female patients-for an odds ratio of 6.64. And in 172 consecutive married patients with systemic cancer, there were nine divorces-seven in women-for an odds ratio of 5.7.
The frequency of marital disruption is increased in patients with CNS disease and in those with cancer, and in patients with primary brain tumors who have features of both diseases, the frequency is exorbitant, Dr. Glantz said. In all cases, however, the risk is increased only when the disease affects the female partner. Young age, and in brain tumor patients, frontal lobe dysfunction, were additional risk factors, he said.
In patients with primary brain tumors, where cures are rare and attention to quality of life is imperative, preventative intervention directed toward this at-risk population is warranted, Dr. Glantz concluded.
Gender-Based Personality Makeup
A coauthor on the study speculated that gender-biased personality makeup accounts for the disparity in divorce rates. Women by nature are more nurturing and tend to have a higher fidelity to the family, said Marc Chamberlain, MD, Professor of Neurology and Neurosurgery at the Norris Cancer Center and Co-Director of the Neuro-Oncology Program there. They recognize the importance of the family unit and of standing by and helping with a profound health problem.
Males are more likely to have a fear-and-flight response in such a situation, he said. Dr. Chamberlain said an exception is in patients with Parkinson's disease, who are less apt to divorce than cancer or MS patients. He believed this is due to the older age of Parkinson's patients. After 20 or 30 years of marriage, people have different horizons, he said. Pair bonding is stronger, and at that age we don't want to be left alone.
Not Explained by Cognitive Problems
The researchers thought that cognitive impairment or emotional changes caused by a CNS tumor might also contribute to the breakup of a marriage, but said that this would not explain the great difference between divorce rates for men and women.
Dr. Chamberlain pointed out that the relative risk of divorce for women with lung cancer is 5.7 times that for men with lung cancer. The risk factor is still high, and it's still the men who walk away, he said.

I have seen a much greater unity in marriages with those that have Parkinson's disease. I think the age that most people get Parkinson's disease is a big part of that. There seems to be a wonderful relationship between increased age and the need for companionship. Time does wonders for people in so many ways.

Divorce rates increase when women have brain tumors, multiple sclerosis, and Parkinson’s disease, sadly, this doesn’t surprise me. It seems that many divorces happen almost on a whim or when an event turns in a marriage that was unexpected. I found it interesting that there was much higher rate of divorce when women have brain tumors, multiple sclerosis, and Parkinson’s then when men have these ailments or diseases. Although there is an increase in divorce when these ailments and diseases are introduced into a relationship the ratio is much lower for those who have Parkinson’s disease. The article does not give statistical figures about divorce rates among those with Parkinson’s disease, but it mentions that it is much lower those with brain tumors or multiple sclerosis.

I believe the lower divorce rate with those that have Parkinson’s disease rather then brain tumors or multiple sclerosis is because those that are diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease are much older, usually above 65 years old. As a marriage matures into the later years of life there seems to be a greater bond, reliance, and even love that exists in the marriage. There’s one marriage that’s affected by Parkinson’s disease that I particularly look up to, because of the way they work through some of the issues that Parkinson’s disease brings into their marriage. They approach it in such a way that there seems to be an even stronger bond then there was before the marriage partner was diagnosed with Parkinson’s, but that doesn’t mean it’s a natural process–it takes work.

It’s easy to write the wonderful stories about how Parkinson’s brought unity, a special bond, or depth to a marriage, but it takes time, work, and patience–just like any other relationship. I was just talking to a friend and he was telling me how difficult marriage was. I kept quiet and let him talk, but I couldn’t help but think about what lies in his future- there’s bound to be many more struggles and indifferences, I just hope that by that time he forgets about some of smaller details of marriage and see the greatest blessings marriage has to offer.

dear MParkinson's,
I was diagnosed at 30, ~
there are many many young onset PD patients...

I am very glad your life has been successful thus far -and you have had a real spouse stand at your side.-but your's is the exception in todays world.
It is not realistic to believe only old people become ill
- baby's are born with Cancer,
children suffer with all types of horrid things - the environment has been poisoned big Corporate who interests are not people -only the greed for money that can be made off the sorrows and illnesses of others, and that in and of itself is a type of insanity...
I feel this is relavent to today as much as it was during the great depression
of 1929 -

2 quotes from Franklin D. Roosevelt~

the nation that destroys its soils destroys itself. Forests are the lungs of our land, purifying the air and giving fresh strength to our people.


They (who) seek to establish systems of government based on the regimentation of all human beings by a handful of individual rulers... call this a new order. It is not new and it is not order.

Address to the Annual Dinner for White House Correspondents' Association, Washington, D.C. (15 March 1941); as inscribed on the FDR memorial, in Washington D. C.

Thank you for your comments/reply. I certainly understand that many are diagnosed early in their lives Parkinson's, cancer, and many other diseases. and my heart goes out to them and to you--I'm sure you are a warrior. What have been your experiences so far? How long have you now had Parkinson's disease?

this is my life's experience -
is this video -
my friends are all in this video -it was our letter to the World, the inside view.
and my friend pwinkle w/ PD has put it online

I decided while I could I needed to leave something on film -my friend Rebecca & I - found funding for, and Rebecca's daughter is the very young young lady who lost her 7 year battle w/ PD at the age of 34 years of age Shauna passed away last August of 2007...

"In Search of A Champion"
http://pwnkle.com/champion.htm