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Married people are more likely to survive cancer, a large new study finds. They also tend to have their cancer diagnosed at earlier stages and are more likely to get appropriate treatment. The study included about 735,000 people diagnosed with cancer. Married men were 23% less likely to die of their disease than those who were single, widowed or divorced. For married women, the advantage was narrower, 16%. Married people were 53% more likely to get appropriate treatment. They were 17% less likely to be diagnosed with cancer that had spread beyond its original site. The study included people with 10 different types of cancer. For 5 types of cancer, being married improved survival more than the known benefit of chemotherapy. Researchers said the study doesn’t show that being married actually causes the lower death rates. But they said it shows the importance of social support.

Costs for each Medicare patient treated for a heart attack rose 17% in the last decade, a new study finds. Only about 26% of that increase came in the first 30 days, including the hospital stay. The rest of the increase occurred in the next 11 months. Researchers looked at cost data for more than 300,000 patients. Each of them had a hospital stay for a heart attack in 1998, 1999 or 2008. The total number of hospital stays for heart attacks fell, probably because of better preventive treatments. But costs for each patient rose about $6,100. About $4,500 of the increase occurred later than the month after the heart attack. Costs paid for nursing homes, hospice, home health care, medical equipment and outpatient care nearly doubled. Researchers noted that Medicare limits what it will pay for heart attack treatment and the 30 days afterward.