Do you suffer from hypertension? Your spouse may too!

in collaboration with

Dr Gérald Kierzek (Medical Director of Doctissimo)

Are you in a relationship and you suffer from high blood pressure? Recommend that your partner also monitors their blood pressure, as there is a high risk that they will also be affected. At least this is the conclusion of a study published in the Journal of the American Heart Association.

Many couples around the world share high blood pressure

The scientists analyzed four studies measuring the aging of populations on a national scale, using data from the United States, China, India, and England. In total, researchers analyzed the blood pressure measurements of 3,989 American couples, 1,086 English couples, 6,514 Chinese couples and 22,389 Indian couples and found:

• The prevalence of both spouses or partners having high blood pressure was around 47% in England; 38% in the United States; 21% in China and 20% in India.
• Compared to wives married to husbands without hypertension, wives whose husbands had hypertension were 9% more likely to have hypertension in the United States and England, 19% more likely in India, and 26% more likely in China .
• In each country, similar associations were observed for husbands. The association was consistent when analyzes were stratified by area of ​​residence in each country, household wealth, duration of marriage, age groups, and education levels.

“Many people know that high blood pressure is common among middle-aged and older adults, but we were surprised to find that among many older couples, both husband and wife had high blood pressure in the United States. , in England, China and India” explains Chihua Li postdoctoral researcher at the University of Michigan, USA.

Taking charge of the couple facing hypertension

The authors of this work thus emphasize that “If your spouse has high blood pressure, you are also more likely to have high blood pressure.” and “interventions targeting spouses could therefore be particularly effective”. They suggest couple interventions to improve the diagnosis and management of high blood pressure, such as couple screening, therapeutic education or joint participation in management programs.

Asked about these conclusions, Dr Gérald Kierzek is not really surprised and agrees with this point of view. “Some studies have shown that living as a couple is beneficial in terms of cardiovascular health. However, here, high blood pressure is linked to lifestyle habits and food consumption, so it is not surprising that a couple, who eat essentially the same thing (particularly in terms of salt consumption and processed foods , risk factors for high blood pressure), can be exposed in the same way” says the doctor.

“The advantage is that by changing the eating habits of one, it will also change those of the other: this therefore makes it possible to improve the cardiovascular health of both members of the couple.“.