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The health of a myeloma patient’s marriage is linked to recovery after transplantation


A He studies It was presented at the Annual Meeting of the American Society of Hematology and explored how relationship dynamics, including satisfaction and stress, influence physical and emotional outcomes during autologous stem cell transplantation for the treatment of multiple myeloma.

In this exclusive MedPage Today Video Ashley Roscoe, MD, of The Ohio State University in Columbus, discusses the impact of marital infections on patient and partner health, and highlights how improving relationship dynamics can enhance outcomes during myeloma treatment.

Below is the text of her statements:

The purpose of our study was to be able to explore the idea of ​​marital contagion, which is that health behaviors and emotional behaviors may change or be influenced by each other over a period of time. This type is based on the idea of ​​emotional contagion where moods can be affected by each other, but also health behaviors can be affected by each other.

In particular, we wanted to be able to explore the impact of this when someone is diagnosed with cancer, specifically multiple myeloma, and undergoes a significant stressor such as an organ transplant.

Therefore, in our study, we first explored some of the relationships with patients and their partners and the differences when it comes to getting along with patients in terms of their overall health. We saw that things like BMI and emotional support were similar between patients and their partners, but there was another type of disagreement in terms of performance status.

Most importantly, one of the most important takeaways from our study is that when we look at things like couples’ satisfaction, we know that as couples’ satisfaction increases, quality of life improves. With increased marital satisfaction, we also saw a decrease in depression.

Another thing we also found among patients is that people who have a strong relationship also have improved measures of physical functioning.

Another factor we identified in our study relates to couples’ stress. We have found that for patients who are stressed, their physical function is lower and their weakness increases.

So, we think this study is important because it really explores that dynamic between patient and partner and whether or not we can benefit from improving those relationships, and we’re not assuming that if there’s a caregiver or partner identified before transplant, that that’s a good thing. A strong relationship – and making sure that, if we can identify some of the factors associated with that, to be able to help improve that, so that we can improve things like depression, physical function, and overall quality of life.

I think, which is important, when we talk about the standard approach for patients coming into autologous stem cell transplantation, we often identify the caregiver, which is the person who can provide transportation back and forth, who can provide education and things like that. But they’re in this role, and it’s very stressful. In fact, we know that a partner’s anxiety and depression can outweigh a patient’s anxiety, both before and after a stem cell transplant.

So, one of those things that I think is going to be important going forward, is if we can ask those questions about stress between couples and the health of that relationship and be able to intervene in that sooner rather than later — whether that’s through couples’ health, through therapy. Psychosocial oncology, whether the patient needs ongoing psychosocial oncology services, or his partner himself, and the ability to identify this early and intervene in it.

  • Greg Loeb is the Senior Director of Video and currently leads the video and podcast production teams. He follows

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