A large US population-based study found that never-married adults had higher cancer incidence than ever-married adults across most cancer types, with the largest disparities seen in older adults and in Black men. The pattern was especially strong for HPV-related, tobacco-related, and several reproductive cancers, suggesting marital status may act as an important social marker of cancer risk.

Adults who have never been married face a significantly higher risk of developing cancer than those who have been married, according to a large U.S. study of more than 4 million cases.