• Posted April 14, 2026

Marriage's Hidden Benefit? A Lower Risk Of Cancer

People who shun settling down for staying foot loose and fancy free might pay a price for their solitary lives, a new study says.

Adults who’ve never married have a significantly higher risk of developing cancer compared to those who’ve gotten hitched, researchers reported April 8 in the journal Cancer Research Communications.

The study found a 68% higher risk in men and 85% higher risk in women across nearly all major cancer sites, researchers said.

“These findings suggest that social factors such as marital status may serve as important markers of cancer risk at the population level,” lead researcher Paulo Pinheiro, a research professor at the University of Miami Miller School of Medicine, said in a news release.

However, researchers were quick to note that people shouldn’t get married to avoid cancer, or feel any pressure to get married at all. Marriage doesn’t magically prevent cancer.

The increased risk among the unmarried was especially pronounced for preventable cancers – those linked to infections, smoking and drinking, researchers said.

“It means that if you’re not married, you should be paying extra attention to cancer risk factors, getting any screenings you may need, and staying up to date on health care,” said senior researcher Frank Penedo, director of the Sylvester Survivorship and Supportive Care Institute at the University of Miami.

“For prevention efforts, our findings point to the importance of targeting cancer risk awareness and prevention strategies with attention to marital status,” Penedo said in a news release.

Marriage is already associated with earlier cancer diagnosis and better survival odds. Married people often have stronger support systems and greater economic stability, and they are more likely to stick with grueling cancer treatment regimens, researchers said.

However, few studies have investigated whether marriage affects a person’s odds of getting cancer in the first place, researchers said.

“We wanted to know who is more likely to get cancer: married people or unmarried people?” Pinheiro said.

For the study, researchers analyzed a federally maintained database, looking at data for more than 4 million cancer cases among more than 100 million people living in 12 states between 2015 and 2022.

The study began in 2015 because that’s the year the U.S. Supreme Court legalized gay marriage, allowing same-sex couples to be included in the married category.

Overall, 1 of 5 adults in the study had never married.

Results showed a significant association between marriage and lower cancer rates, researchers found.

For some cancers, the rate among the unmarried was even higher than the overall risk across all major cancer types, researchers said.

Adult men who were never married had approximately five times the rate of anal cancer, while adult women who were never married had nearly three times the rate of cervical cancer, researchers found.

Black men who never married had the highest overall cancer rates, researchers said. However, married Black men had lower cancer rates than married white men, showing that they gain a greater benefit from marriage.

“It’s a clear and powerful signal that some individuals are at a greater risk,” Penedo said.

Researchers also found that the link between marriage and cancer was stronger in people older than 50, suggesting that the benefits of marriage might become stronger as their cancer risk rises with age.

“The association between marriage status and cancer risk is an interesting, new observation that deserves more research,” Pinheiro said.

More information

The National Cancer Institute has more on risk factors for cancer.

SOURCES: University of Miami, news release, April 8, 2026; Cancer Research Communications, April 8, 2026