Under Pressure

If one spouse or partner in a relationship has high blood pressure, the other often does too, finds new research co-led by the Emory Global Diabetes Research Center. For the study, published in the Journal of the American Heart Association, researchers investigated whether heterosexual partners in the US, England, China, and India mirrored each other’s high blood-pressure status.

“Our study is the first to examine the union of high blood pressure within couples from high- and middle-income countries,” says Jithin Sam Varghese, research assistant professor at Rollins School of Public Health. “We wanted to see if married couples, who often have the same interests, living environment, lifestyle habits and health outcomes, also share high blood pressure.” The researchers analyzed 3,989 US couples, 1,086 English couples, 6,514 Chinese couples, and 22,389 Indian couples. Participants considered to have high blood pressure had one of the following: systolic greater than 140 mm Hg; diastolic greater than 90 mm Hg, or a history of high blood pressure as reported by a health care provider. Study findings included:

• The rate of both spouses or partners having high blood pressure was about 47% in England; 38% in the US; 21% in China; and 20% in India.
• Wives whose husbands had high blood pressure were 9% more likely to have high blood pressure in the US and England, 19% more likely in India and 26% more likely in China. Similar observations were made for husbands.

The study highlights the potential for using couple-based interventions for high blood pressure diagnosis and management such as joint screenings or mutual education programs.