2023-12-12 13:30:23
If one of the spouses or members of a heterosexual couple suffers from high blood pressure, the other member of the couple often suffers from it tooaccording to new research published in the ‘Journal of the American Heart Association,’ an open-access, peer-reviewed journal of the American Heart Association.
«Many people know that high blood pressure is common in middle-aged and older adults“But we were surprised to find that among many older couples, both husband and wife had high blood pressure in the United States, the United Kingdom, China and India,” said lead author Chihua Li, a postdoctoral fellow at the University of Michigan in the United States. Joined). »For example, in the United States, among more than 35% of couples aged 50 or older, both had hypertension.
The researchers studied whether heterosexual couples in these countries mirrored each other’s hypertension status. Previous studies have explored the linkage of high blood pressure and other diseases between couples in a single country setting or have used small regional samples.
“Ours is the first study to examine the linkage of high blood pressure in couples from high- and middle-income countries,” said study co-author Dr. Jithin Sam Varghese, an assistant research professor at the Emory Center for Global Research. Diabetes from Emory University of Atlanta. “We wanted to find out whether many married couples who tend to have the same interests, living environment, lifestyle habits and health outcomes can also share hypertension.”
The researchers analyzed the blood pressure measurements of 3,989 American couples, 1,086 English couples, 6,514 Chinese couples, and 22,389 Indian couples, and found that the prevalence of hypertension in both spouses or partners was 47% in England, 38% in the United States , 21% in China and 20% in India. Compared to women married to husbands without hypertensionwomen whose husbands had hypertension were 9% more likely to have it in the United States and England, 19% more likely in India, and 26% more likely in China.
Within each country, similar associations were observed for husbands. The association held when analyzes were stratified by area of residence within each country, household wealth, duration of marriage, age groups, and education levels.
Cultural differences that affect health
“High blood pressure is more common in the United States and England than in China and India, however, the association between partners’ blood pressure status was stronger in China and India than in the United States and England. One reason could be cultural. In China and India, there is firm belief in staying together as a family“So couples could influence each other’s health more,” explains study co-author Peiyi Lu, a postdoctoral fellow in epidemiology at the Mailman School of Public Health at Columbia University (United States). »In the collectivist societies of China and India, couples are expected to depend on and support each other, both emotionally and instrumentally, so health could be more intertwined.«
These findings highlight the potential of using couple-based approaches for the diagnosis and management of hypertension, such as couple screening, skills training or joint participation in programs, Li highlights.
‘These findings also point to a broader point: reducing the global public health burden of hypertension will likely require interventions that use a socioecological model that takes into account the determinants of hypertension at the individual, interpersonal, environmental and political,” he concludes.
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