American Singles Have a Higher Risk of Heart Disease and Obesity

It seems as if cardiovascular disease is ubiquitous in all aspects of life: diet, physical health, mental health, and now--relationships. A new study has shown that married couples have healthier hearts than singles, widows/widowers, and divorcees.

A comprehensive study led by Dr. Carlos Alviar of the New York University's Lagone Medical Center surveyed 3.5 million American adults. Married couples were found to have a 5% lower risk of any cardiovascular disease, compared with widowed people who had a 3% higher risk and divorced people who had a 5% higher risk. The average age of the participants was 64 years old.

Among the men in the study, 80% were married, 8.8% were single, 6.1% were divorced, and 4.7% were widowed. For the women, 63% were married, 10.5% were divorced, 18% were widowed, and 8.1% were single. The study was conducted between 2003 and 2008 across the United States with nearly 90% of the participants being white.

Divorcees and widows/widowers had a higher prevalence of heart disease than singles did. This was perhaps true of divorcees because their smoking rates were higher, which is a major cause of heart disease. But widowed people suffered from the highest rates of diabetes, high blood pressure, and inadequate exercise. Single people suffered most from obesity.

Dr. Alviar believes this is the largest study to ever look at the link between marriage and heart health, but knows that further studies must be conducted for diversity purposes because an overwhelming majority of the subjects were white.

The only cardiovascular disease that married couples had a higher risk for was coronary artery disease, which is the most common form of heart disease. And still, they only showed a 0.4% higher likelihood and divorcees (4.6%) and widowed people (7.1%) had a much higher risk. That disease posed the highest risk factors for married couples and widowed people, while divorcees had a 6.2% higher risk factor for cerebrovascular disease.

The study has not yet been published, but it will be presented tomorrow at the annual scientific sessions of the American College of Cardiology in Washington, D.C. You can read more about it here.