Being with other patients during chemotherapy—rather than isolated—may have long-term effects after chemotherapy, according to researchers from the National Human Genome Research Institute and the University of Oxford in the United Kingdom.
“People model behavior based on what’s around them,” said Jeff Lienert, lead author. “For example, you will often eat more when you’re dining with friends, even if you can’t see what they’re eating.” The researchers wanted to find out whether similar social interaction would influence chemotherapy patients.
Related: Quality of Supportive Care for Patients With Advanced Lung Cancer in the VHA
The researchers used data on 4,691 cancer patients. As a proxy for social connection, the researchers gathered information on when patients checked in and out of the chemotherapy ward and how long they spent there, in “a small intimate space” where people could interact for a long period.
“Co-presence matters,” the researchers say. They found that when patients were around other patients who died in less than 5 years, they had a 72% chance of dying within 5 years. The best outcome, the researchers said, was when patients interacted with someone who survived for 5 or more years: Their risk of dying within 5 years dropped to 68%. “Being connected to a single survivor is similarly protective,” the researchers concluded, “as being connected to a single nonsurvivor is deleterious to patient survival.”
Because the study focused on “mere co-presence”—that is, just being together—their findings likely underestimate the influence of social forces, the researchers say. However, they note that “just being around others receiving treatment with similar stressors does not seem to impart any health effects”—suggesting that social facilitation and social support are not the underlying influence mechanism.
Related: Advances in Targeted Therapy for Breast Cancer
The study is the first to investigate, on a large scale, how social context in a treatment setting can play a significant role in disease outcomes. The researchers didn’t study why the difference in survival occurred, but they suggest that stress response may play a role. If a patient is unable to “fight or flee,” as in the situation of chemotherapy, Lienert says, the hormones can build. “Positive social support during the exact moments of greatest stress is crucial.”
Sources:
Lienert J, Marcum CS, Finney J, Reed-Tsochas F, Koehly L. Network Sci . 2017:1-20. https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/network-science/article/social-influence-on-5year-survival-in-a-longitudinal-chemotherapy-ward-copresence-network/4E08D5F5A0D332AA5BB119310833A244. Accessed August 8, 2017.
National Institutes of Health. Social interaction affects cancer patients’ response to treatment. https://www.nih.gov/news-events/news-releases/social-interaction-affects-cancer-patients-response-treatment. Published July 19, 2017. Accessed August 8, 2017.