(image: Korea Bizwire)
SEOUL, Dec. 26 (Korea Bizwire) — A husband or a wife with a healthy cardiovascular index is more likely to have a spouse with a similar healthy index, a study showed Sunday.
A research team from Yonsei University College of Medicine analyzed 6,030 middle-aged couples who participated in the 2014 to 2019 National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey to study the correlation of cardiovascular health between couples.
Based on seven risk factors of cardiovascular disease including smoking, exercise, diet, obesity, blood pressure, blood sugar, and cholesterol, the team created a cardiovascular health index.
The results showed that the average cardiovascular health index among husbands (average age of 54.3 years) was 3.2 points out of 7, which was 4 points lower than the average for the group of wives (average age of 51.2 years).
The research team estimated that a husband’s cardiovascular index was 1.49 times more likely to be in a healthier state if his wife’s health index was high, compared to when his wife’s health index was poor.
A wife’s cardiovascular index was also 1.46 times more likely to be in a healthier state if her husband’s health index was high.
Cardiovascular health indices most intimately correlated between the spouses were non-smoking (57.2 percent), ideal blood sugar level on an empty stomach (34.9 percent), and diet (24.2 percent).
What was interesting is that a wife’s health index continued to have an impact on her husband’s health index as they aged, while a husband’s health index had less influence on his wife’s health index as they grew older.
H. M. Kang (hmkang@koreabizwire.com)
