Heart Health: Couples Share Risk Factors and Healthy Habits

Couples, especially those in long-term relationships, do almost the same thing every day. Like having an extra order of fries, snoozing the alarm to the gym, smoking, and other behaviors that may or may not increase the risk of developing heart disorders.

One person's behavior may have a strong link to the patterns of the behavior of the other person. This concept led the researchers of a new study to believe that if one of the couples is at risk of heart problems, the other might also get checked.

EurekAlert reported that a new study by Brigham and Women's Hospital shows that couples share heart disease risk factors and behaviors after assessing 5,3000 couples across the United States who took part in an employee wellness program by quest Diagnostics.

Couples Share Risk Factors and Behaviors That Influence Heart Health

The researchers used several metric systems to classify the couples, either having the ideal or non-ideal risk factors and behaviors. They found that 79% of the couples fell into the non-ideal group for heart health, sharing many unhealthy practices and less exercise.

According to the researchers, their study aims to point out the significance of addressing healthy behaviors among couples. They published their results in the journal JAMA Network Open.

Cardiologist Samia Mora from the Brigham and Women's Hospital and Harvard Medical School said they were expecting some shared risk factors, but they were surprised to see that majority of them were sharing non-ideal behaviors that increase their risk of developing heart problems.

The researchers used the American Heart Association's Life's Simple 7 to evaluate the couples. These seven risk factors include smoking status, daily physical activity, blood sugar levels, total cholesterol, body mass index, and blood pressure.

The data was based on questionnaires, physical examinations, and laboratory exams. The couples were graded individually as either poor, intermediate, or ideal for the LS7. Then the scores were summed to give an overall rating for the couple.

The analysis showed that the couples scored either they are heart-healthy together or have non-ideal behaviors that lead to poor heart health.

When one of the couples scored high in the ideal category, except for cholesterol, the other person most likely scored high as well in the ideal category.

But the researchers caution that their study does not necessarily point out a direct cause. It is an observational study only that provide associations between the health of the person to another.

Factors in the Study That Might Affect It

The study relied on self-reported data, which possibly could limit the findings. This could affect how truthful the respondents' answers were during the data gathering, Science Alert reported.

Besides, those couples who joined the company-sponsored wellness program were more concerned about their health, which could skew the findings, which means that the findings in the US might hold true elsewhere in the world as well.

However, financial problems, lack of sleep, and other factors that affect heart health not included in the US study might also raise the risk of couples who participated.

The study also failed to include information about the longevity of the couples' relationship, which might tell how each person adopts the other's lifestyle.

Nonetheless, the researchers think that their study could help find interventions for couples and families and promote a healthy lifestyle.