Marriage Prevents Death from Heart Disease, New Research Reveals

New research has revealed that marriage prevents death from heart disease, According to the research,  married people are 14 per cent more likely to survive a heart attack than those who are single, a study found.

This is thought to be due to spouses nagging each other to live a healthy lifestyle, the research adds.

Husbands and wives can also be relied upon to remind the other to take their medication and generally help them to cope with their condition, the study found.

Lead author Dr Paul Carter from Aston University in Birmingham, said: ‘Marriage, and having a spouse at home, is likely to offer emotional and physical support on a number of levels’.

The researchers analysed patients who were hospitalised in England between 2000 and 2013.

The study’s participants had either previously suffered a heart attack or had risk factors for such an event.
They were categorised according to their marital status.

Results reveal that married people are 14 per cent more likely to survive a heart attack than single people.

Of the study’s participants with high cholesterol, those who were married were 16 per cent more likely to be alive at the end of the trial’s duration.

Survival prospects were 14 per cent and 10 per cent higher for married participants with diabetes and high blood pressure, respectively.

The findings were presented at the European Society of Cardiology congress in Barcelona.

Dr Carter said: ‘Marriage, and having a spouse at home, is likely to offer emotional and physical support on a number of levels ranging from encouraging patients to live healthier lifestyles, helping them to cope with the condition and helping them to comply to their medical treatments.

‘The nature of a relationship is important and there is a lot of evidence that stress and stressful life events, such as divorce, are linked to heart disease.

‘With this in mind, we also found that divorced patients with high blood pressure or a previous heart attack had lower survival rates than married patients with the same condition.’

Senior author Dr Rahul Potluri added: ‘Heart attacks are devastating events. It’s important that patients receive the necessary support to cope with them whether it’s from a spouse, friends, family or anyone they choose to involve in their care.

‘Doctors need to treat patients in a holistic manner and encourage this as well as the use of support groups and rehabilitation courses, DailyMail reports’