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3/9/09

University of Utah: Marriage and General Health - Heart Hazards of Woeful Wives

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Marriage and General Health - 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 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.

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