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A new study of more than three million Danes and Swedes finds that spouses of people with cancer face an increased risk of developing a psychiatric disorder. Asher D. Aladjem, MD, medical director of psychosocial services at °µĶųTV Langone Healthās Perlmutter Cancer Center, tells Medscape that if the study had been done in the United States, which does not have universal healthcare, these ānumbers would probably be much higher.ā
In the United States, people with cancer and their spouses need to navigate insurance coverage issues and a fragmented healthcare system, which is a ābig burden on any chronic or life-threatening illness,ā explains Dr. Aladjem, who is also a clinical associate professor in the Departments of and at °µĶųTV Grossman School of Medicine.
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