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Age differences in the association between marital status and hypertension: a population-based study

Journal of Human Hypertension volume 36, pages 670–680 (2022)Cite this article

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Abstract

The findings on the relationship between marital status and hypertension are inconsistent. We aimed to explore age differences in their associations. We used Hainan Hypertension Survey data, including 13,088 individuals aged more than 25 years, as part of the China Hypertension Survey study, a population-based nationwide study. The marital status was classified as following three groups: the unmarried, the married, and those who formerly lived with his/her spouse. We examined the association between marital status and blood pressure levels and the odds of hypertension across different ages and sex. The participants’ mean age was 49.9 ± 17 years, 49% were male, and 23% experienced hypertension. The multivariable logistic regression model showed among younger (<40 years) and older (≥60 years) participants, the married subjects appeared to have higher odds of hypertension compared with the unmarried counterparts, particular for men (Pheterogeneity = 0.039), after adjustment for age, sex, smoking, drinking, education background, employment situation, and body mass index. Compared with the unmarried and the married people, younger persons who previously had partners had a higher OR of hypertension than the older counterparts, and the ORs tended to decline with age (All Ptrend ≤ 0.005). The associations between marital status and blood pressure levels from multivariable linear regression models seemed consistent with the relationships mentioned above from logistic regression models. Our study indicates a marital status change is associated with a higher odds of hypertension, and it appears to be more obvious in young people.

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Fig. 1: Association between marital status and hypertension across different ages and gender.
Fig. 2: The estimated marginal effects of marital status change on blood pressure level across ages in men using both the conventional linear interaction model and the binning estimator.
Fig. 3: The estimated marginal effects of marital status change on blood pressure level across ages in women using both the conventional linear interaction model and the binning estimator.

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Acknowledgements

We would like to thank the staff of Fuwai Hospital for their training in the investigation work and all the people who took part in the Hainan Hypertension Survey.

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Author notes

  1. These authors contributed equally: Kuibao Li, Xiangjie Ma

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Heart Center and Beijing key Laboratory of Hypertension, Beijing Chaoyang Hospital Affiliated to Capital Medical University, Beijing, China

    Kuibao Li

  2. Department of Cardiology, Hainan Provincial People’s Hospital, Haikou, Hainan, China

    Xiangjie Ma & Jianlin Ma

  3. Medical Care Center of Hainan Provincial People’s Hospital, Haikou, Hainan, China

    Liangyan Yuan

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Correspondence to Kuibao Li.

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Li, K., Ma, X., Yuan, L. et al. Age differences in the association between marital status and hypertension: a population-based study. J Hum Hypertens 36, 670–680 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41371-021-00558-9

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