Heart Hazards of Woeful Wives

Women in strained marriages are more likely to feel depressed and suffer high blood pressure, obesity and other signs of “metabolic syndrome,” a group of risk factors for heart disease, stroke and diabetes, University of Utah psychologists found.

The same study found men in strained marriages also are more likely to feel depressed, yet – unlike women – do not face an increased risk of metabolic syndrome, which is characterized by five symptoms: hypertension, obesity around the waistline, high blood sugar, high triglycerides and low levels of HDL, which is “good cholesterol.”

“We hypothesized that negative aspects of marriages like arguing and being angry would be associated with higher levels of metabolic syndrome,” says the study’s first author, Nancy Henry, a doctoral student in psychology. “We further anticipated that this relationship would be at least partly due to depressive symptoms.”

“In other words, those who reported experiencing more conflict, hostility and disagreement with their spouses would more depressed, which in turn would be associated with a higher risk of heart disease due to metabolic syndrome,” she adds

“We found this was true for wives in this study, but not for husbands,” says Henry, who was scheduled to present the findings Thursday, March 5 in Chicago during the American Psychosomatic Society’s annual meeting.

“The gender difference is important because heart disease is the number-one killer of women as well as men, and we are still learning a lot about how relationship factors and emotional distress are related to heart disease,” she says.

Putting Your Heart into Your Marriage

Does the study suggest women should avoid men to reduce heart disease risks?

“We know they should,” jokes Tim Smith, a psychology professor and study co-author who heads a larger University of Utah study of the role of marriage quality in heart disease. The new study is part of the larger effort.

Smith, turning serious, says: “The reason you have to be careful about ‘what does it mean?’ is that this study is a simple, preliminary test of what might be unhealthy about relationships for women.”

“There is good evidence they [women] should modify some of the things that affect metabolic syndrome – like diet and exercise – but it’s a little premature to say they would lower their risk of heart disease if they improved the tone and quality of their marriages – or dumped their husbands,” he says.

Other data from the larger study indicate “that a history of divorce is associated with coronary disease,” he adds, noting the researchers are pursuing the hypothesis that improving marriage might improve health.

“The immediate implication is that if you are interested in your cardiovascular risk – and we all should be because it is the leading killer for both genders – we should be concerned about not just traditional risk factors [such as blood pressure and cholesterol] but the quality of our emotional and family lives,” Smith says.