Getting married can lead to a longer life for men: study

Marriage really can lead to happily ever after.

A new study from the American College of Cardiology found that a happy marriage can lead to a longer and healthier life — specifically for men.

Researchers at the University of Colorado found that men who never married are more than twice as likely to die from heart failure within five years of diagnosis compared to married men or women of any marital status.

The experts used data from the Multi-Ethnic Study of Atherosclerosis, an existing study of 6,800 American adults between 45 and 84 years old.

Researchers compared marital status and survival rates from the time of heart failure diagnosis from the 94 participants with heart failure at year 10 of the study. They also adjusted for other known risk factors, such as age and mood status.

Lifelong bachelors were about 2.2 times more like to die than married men — but men who were widowed, divorced or separated did not have an increased risk compared to married men.

As for women, marital status was not significant in the prediction of death rates.

Reasoning behind the correlation between a man’s marital status and likeliness to die of heart failure needs further study, researchers said, but possible factors could include social interaction or isolation, access to someone who can monitor health, or differences in health behaviors such as diet, exercise or alcohol intake.

“There is a relationship between a person’s relationship status and their clinical prognosis [with heart failure], and it’s important to figure out why that is,” Katarina Leyba, MD, a resident physician at the University of Colorado and the study’s lead author, said. 

“As our population is getting older and living longer, it’s imperative to determine how to best support the population through the aging process, and that might not be as easy as taking a pill. We need to take a personalized and holistic approach to supporting patients, especially with a chronic disease process like heart failure.”

Heart failure occurs when the heart fails to produce enough blood and oxygen to other organs in the body, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

The chronic condition affects about 6.2 million adults in the US — and was mentioned on 379,800 death certificates in 2018.

There is currently no cure for heart failure, but there are ways to reduce symptoms and help those affected live longer, such as medication, dietary modifications and regular physical activity.

Researchers suggest discussing their home life and relationship status with clinicians to determine how it might affect their progress with heart failure.

“As clinicians, we need to think about our patients not just in terms of their medical risk factors, but also the context of their life,” Leyba said.