Why moving house is not a good idea when you’re fighting cancer
by Ann Lukits
2016-06-28 14:20:31.0
MOVING to a new home shortly before — or after — a cancer diagnosis may worsen the disease and decrease survival, says a study published online in Cancer Prevention.
The study followed cancer patients who relocated to a different county in the US within three years of getting a second cancer diagnosis.
Those patients had more advanced second cancers that had metastasised compared with cancer patients who did not move.
The risk of dying from cancer within 10 years also increased after moving.
Relocating is a major life stressor.
READ THIS: If your job is your number one life stressor, it is time you develop resilience
Moving can disrupt employment, income, healthcare coverage and relationships with oncologists, the study said.
Important social supports may also be disrupted, without sufficient time to rebuild those networks before the second diagnosis, it said.
Researchers at the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute and Brigham and Women’s Hospital, in Boston, used a national cancer database to identify 272,718 patients who had two cancer diagnoses within a three-year period between 1973 and 2011.
About 2%, or 4,639 patients, had moved to a new county before the second diagnosis.
Of those who relocated, 25% were diagnosed with stage four cancers, which often have a poor prognosis, and 21% died of cancer-related causes within 10 years.
By comparison, stage four cancers were diagnosed in 21% of those who did not relocate, and 18% died.
READ THIS: Morgan Tsvangirai says he is undergoing treatment for colon cancer in SA
The differences between the groups were statistically significant, the study said.
Relocating increased the risk of dying from cancer within 10 years by 30%, but only among white patients.
Non-white patients may have weathered more hardships during their lifetime and developed greater resilience to disruption, the researchers suggested.
Patients with prostate and lung cancers who had recently relocated had the highest risk of dying.
It was not possible to distinguish between short-and long-range relocations, which could be more disruptive to health, the researchers said.
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Cancer patient. Picture: REUTERS/JIM BOURG
MOVING to a new home shortly before — or after — a cancer diagnosis may worsen the disease and decrease survival, says a study published online in Cancer Prevention.
The study followed cancer patients who relocated to a different county in the US within three years of getting a second cancer diagnosis.
Those patients had more advanced second cancers that had metastasised compared with cancer patients who did not move.
The risk of dying from cancer within 10 years also increased after moving.
Relocating is a major life stressor.
READ THIS: If your job is your number one life stressor, it is time you develop resilience
Moving can disrupt employment, income, healthcare coverage and relationships with oncologists, the study said.
Important social supports may also be disrupted, without sufficient time to rebuild those networks before the second diagnosis, it said.
Researchers at the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute and Brigham and Women’s Hospital, in Boston, used a national cancer database to identify 272,718 patients who had two cancer diagnoses within a three-year period between 1973 and 2011.
About 2%, or 4,639 patients, had moved to a new county before the second diagnosis.
Of those who relocated, 25% were diagnosed with stage four cancers, which often have a poor prognosis, and 21% died of cancer-related causes within 10 years.
By comparison, stage four cancers were diagnosed in 21% of those who did not relocate, and 18% died.
READ THIS: Morgan Tsvangirai says he is undergoing treatment for colon cancer in SA
The differences between the groups were statistically significant, the study said.
Relocating increased the risk of dying from cancer within 10 years by 30%, but only among white patients.
Non-white patients may have weathered more hardships during their lifetime and developed greater resilience to disruption, the researchers suggested.
Patients with prostate and lung cancers who had recently relocated had the highest risk of dying.
It was not possible to distinguish between short-and long-range relocations, which could be more disruptive to health, the researchers said.
More Africa news from The Wall Street Journal
More news from The Wall Street Journal
Premium access to WSJ.com: $1 a week for 12 weeks
