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In addition to biological activity and cancer treatment, psychosocial considerations may influence both the quality of survival and its length. The investigators used information from psychological autopsies of cancer deaths, and correlated observed survival (measured in months beyond expected survival) with psychosocial findings. Patients who lived significantly longer tended to maintain cooperative and mutually responsive relationships, especially towards the end of their lives. Patients with death wishes, depression, apathy, and long-standing mutually destructive relationships survived for shorter periods than expectable. Why longevity occurs in some patients, but not in others, may be related to different traits which create alienation in personal life and in caretaking staff as life draws to a close. More assertive patients ask for and get better attention and services, and as a result, may live longer and die better deaths.
Weisman et al. (Tue,) studied this question.