ABSTRACT
Introduction: divorce has been a serious problem of major prevalence in our community. According to Saudi Ministry of Justice, divorce rate was estimated to be 27.84% in 2015. Therefore, this study aimed to obtain the incidence of divorce among cancer patients in Princess Noura Oncology Center to know whether being diagnosed with cancer would affect the marital status in terms of divorce
Patients and Methods: the study included 125 patients with age of 15-70 years, have been married, and diagnosed with cancer. Patients were interviewed in the clinic. For data analysis, we used SPSS. Institutional Review Board approval was obtained
Results: divorce rate among cancer patients was significantly lower than that of the general population [P value <0.001]. It was found to be higher in patients with breast cancer 50%, followed by non-solid tumor 33% of all divorces. 66% of divorced cancer patients were females
Conclusion: divorce rate in cancer patients is lower than that of the general population. Therefore, we believe that cancer has led to stronger relationships. Cancer by itself does not increase the rate of divorce. Interestingly, it is generally found to be higher in female patients and breast cancer