Married Men with HIV Live Longer

When statistics show that 40 percent of marriages end in divorce, a new study highlights the positives of married life. This kind of support can actually play an essential role in the longevity of men who have been diagnosed with HIV/AIDS. 

According to researchers at the University of California, Riverside, they analyzed data from the U.S. National Longitudinal Mortality Study and the National Death Index, which showed that 410 of 763,000 individuals age 15 and older died due to the virus.

Researchers found that among the sample, divorced men were six times more likely to die due to the health issue than married men. In fact, the risk of early death was higher for men with the disease who were never married; about 13.5 times higher.

The study also showed that the risk of dying early due to AIDS was 2.7 times higher than white men with the disease.

"These data capture when HIV/AIDS was approaching pandemic level. People were very afraid. The perception was that only men who had sex with men were getting infected, so no one was looking at risk factors for people who were married, widowed or separated," said professor Augustine Kposowa, sociologist from University of California, Riverside, according to a press release. 

The study," Marital status and HIV/AIDS mortality: evidence from the U.S. National Longitudinal Mortality Study" is published in the International Journal of Infectious Diseases, the official publication of the International Society for Infectious Diseases.