Recent study has shown that women are more likely to stay with their partner during chronic illness as compared to men. Study showed that women have six times higher chances than men, of getting a divorce or being left by their husbands or partners when she gets a life-threatening illness.

The study was based on the data collected from 515 patients who had enrolled in 2001 and 2002 at the SCCA, Huntsman and Stanford University School of Medicine. The study subjects were followed until 2006. Out of 515 patients, 214 had a malignant primary brain tumor, 193 had a solid tumor not related to the central nervous system, and 108 were diagnosed with multiple sclerosis.

Data analysis showed that an overall divorce rate in the study group was 11.6 percent, similar to general population. Divorce percentage was highly dominated by gender differences. It was found that in case of women patients the divorce rate was 20.8 percent as compared to 2.9 percent in case of men.

Lead researcher Dr. Marc Chamberlain, director of the Neuro-oncology program at the Seattle Cancer Care Alliance (SCCA) said: “Part of it is a sense of self-preservation. In men that seems to operate very highly and they don't feel this codependence, this requirement to nurture their significant other who has this life-threatening illness, but rather decide what's best for me is to find an alternative mate and
abandon my fatally flawed spouse."