Bachelors are twice as likely to die of cancer compared with married men, a study has found.

Researchers who looked at cancer death rates over 40 years found that men and women who had never married were more likely to die from 13 of the most common types of cancer, including lung, breast and prostate. But the increased death rate was most stark in unmarried men over the age of 70—and it has been increasing every decade.

Norwegian scientists looked at the records of 440,000 men and women diagnosed with cancer from 1970 to 2007, and compared them with marital status.

Never being married when diagnosed—rather than being divorced or widowed—doubled the death rate in men from 18 to 35 percent and in women more modestly from 17 to 22 percent.

Mortality rates for unmarried men have gone up by 3.4 percent every decade compared with those who are married.

Previous studies have shown married people generally have better health and live longer than single people, as they tend not to smoke and drink as heavily, and have better mental health. The researchers at the University of Oslo say this is likely to be a factor in cancer death rates.

They also suggested that married people are probably diagnosed earlier as they tend to visit the doctor more and may comply better with treatment as they have a to support them.

据英国《每日邮报》10月14日报道，一项研究发现，单身者死于癌症的几率是已婚者的两倍。

研究人员在观察了近40年的癌症死亡率后发现，未婚男女更易死于包括肺癌、乳腺癌和前列腺癌在内的13种常见癌症。但是这种死亡几率的递增在年龄超过70岁的未婚人群中更为明显。而且每过十年死亡率就会更大。

挪威科学家查看了44万从1970年到2007年罹患癌症的病人纪录，并将其与他们的婚姻状况作比较。

癌症患者中，无婚史的男性较之离过婚或丧偶的同性患者，死亡率从18%升至35%。而女性患者的死亡比率也从17%增大至22%。

和那些已婚癌症病患相比，未婚患者的死亡率每十年就上升3.4%。

以往的研究表明，已婚者一般都具有更好的健康状况而且比单身者的寿命长。因为已婚者较少酗烟酗酒，心理健康状况也更为良好。奥陆斯大学的研究人员说这很可能是一个降低已婚癌症患者死亡率的因素。

他们还暗示由于已婚者看医生的次数较多，所以很可能在患病初期就能被诊断出病情，而且他们因为有了配偶的支持，也能更好地配合治疗。