Marital status of a person affects the risk of developing cardiovascular diseases. This is the focus of a study presented by Katharina Leiba, a physician at the University of Colorado, USA. According to the document, men who have never been married are three or two times more likely to die within five years of being diagnosed with heart failure.

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This is compared to men who were married, or women of any marital status.

“There is a link between a person’s relationship status and their clinical prognosis, and it is important to find out why this is the case. We need to take a personalized and holistic approach to patient support. Especially with such a chronic disease as heart failure.

She added that human life expectancy increases over the years, and medicine should closely monitor this fact. The consequences of this aging process may not be simple enough to be solved with a pill. Hence the need for an individual approach.

In total, 6,800 American adults aged 45 to 84 took part in the study. In this group, 94 people were analyzed for survival because they had heart failure. Analysis was considered from the time of diagnosis, by sex and marital status, during a mean follow-up of 4.7 years.