A new study suggests married people are less likely to have cardiovascular problems.
Researchers found that regardless of factors such as "age, sex, or even cardiovascular risk factors," married people were less likely to suffer from a cardiovascular disease or event, a NYU Langone Medical Center / New York University School of Medicine news release reported.
The study found that being married reduced cardiovascular risk by five percent when compared with those who were single; widowed and divorced people were three and five percent more likely to have heart problems.
Married people below the age of 50 were at least 12 percent less likely from diseases such as "eripheral artery disease, cerebrovascular disease, abdominal aortic aneurysm, and coronary artery disease" than married people of the same age range, the news release reported. For people between the ages of 51 and 60 this number dropped to seven percent.
"Our survey results clearly show that when it comes to cardiovascular disease, marital status does indeed matter," senior study investigator and NYU Langone cardiologist Jeffrey Berger, MD, MS, director of cardiovascular thrombosis programs and an assistant professor in the Department of Medicine, Leon H. Charney Division of Cardiology, said in the news release. "If one of my patients is recently widowed or divorced, I'm increasingly vigilant about examining that patient for signs of any type of cardiovascular disease and depression."
The researchers believe the study highlights the need for physicians to take marital status into account when looking at heart disease risk in patients.
More research is needed to understand exactly why this link exists between marital status and heart disease, but it could be because a spouse can provide a health support system.
"Married people can look after each other, making sure their spouse eats healthy, exercises regularly, and takes medication as prescribed," Berger said. "A spouse can also help keep doctors' appointments and provide transportation, making for easier access to health care services."
