Meta-Analysis of the Association Between Marital Status and Cardiovascular Diseases

Division

West Florida

Hospital

Blake Medical Center

Document Type

Manuscript

Publication Date

7-22-2025

Keywords

CVD, Cardiovascular, cardiovascular mortality, cardiovascular risk factors, divorced, marital status, married, single, unmarried

Disciplines

Cardiovascular Diseases | Internal Medicine | Medicine and Health Sciences

Abstract

Significant morbidity and death are connected to cardiovascular disease (CVD), with classic risk factors such as age, sex, smoking, hypertension, hyperlipidemia, and diabetes accounting for 80% of the risk. The other 20% of risk variables are poorly understood. The influence of marital status is one more element whose function is unclear. A comprehensive literature review was conducted on PubMed, Scopus, and Web of Science databases and data from the included articles were extracted and analyzed. A meta-analysis was conducted using the findings of the 13 publications. In this study, we evaluated the incidence of CVD across different marital statuses by analyzing 13 cohort studies from 11 countries with 1,809,825 participants. Our results showed no significant differences in CVD incidence among married (HR 1.00, 95% confidence interval [CI] 0.84-1.20) and unmarried individuals (HR 1.24, 95% CI 0.95-1.62). Divorced individuals had a 28% higher incidence (HR 1.28, 95% CI 1.14-1.44), and widowed individuals showed a 28% increase (HR 1.28, 95% CI 1.11-1.48). The results show no discernible difference in the incidence of CVD between married and single people. However, divorced and widowed people have a noticeably increased risk of CVD incidence. The high heterogeneity of the research highlights the complexity of the link. These results emphasize how crucial it is to take marital status into account when evaluating CVD risk and developing preventative measures.

Publisher or Conference

JRSM Cardiovascular Disease

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