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 NYU Langone Health’s Perlmutter Cancer Center, tells Medscape that if the study had been done in the United States, which does not have universal healthcare, these “numbers would probably be much higher.”

In the United States, people with cancer and their spouses need to navigate insurance coverage issues and a fragmented healthcare system, which is a “big burden on any chronic or life-threatening illness,” explains Dr. Aladjem, who is also a clinical associate professor in the Departments of Psychiatry and Population Health at NYU Grossman School of Medicine.

Read more from Medscape (free registration required).