Happy married life can cut stroke risk in men

JERUSALEM - Growing old with a loving wife can reduce the risk of death caused by stroke in men, a new study has found.

The research carried out for a period of 34 years 1963-1997 showed that unmarried men and unhappy married ones were about 64 percent more likely to die from stroke than happy married men, Xinhua reported quoting the study.

Professor Uri Goldbourt’s work at the Neufeld Cardiac Institute at the Sheba Medical Centre indicates a possible connection between marital “happiness” and the odds of suffering a lethal stroke.

The survey, conducted by the Tel Aviv University, is based on data covering 10,059 Israeli male middle-aged civil servants. It included data from the country’s national death registry and other records, using “clinical, biochemical, anthropometric, sociodemographic and psychosocial evaluations”.

The results were “very consistent with what we’re seeing in the United States,” according to Dr Daniel Lackland of the Medical University of South Carolina.

Lackland, who was not involved in the study, said it “demonstrates the benefit of having a partner or somebody that’s there that can be supportive”.

He said a spouse’s positive impact could include administering medication, making healthy food choices or even getting medical aid quickly in an emergency.

“So those things all put together, we would expect to have some better outcomes,” Lackland told MedPageToday website.