Ontology highlight
ABSTRACT: Importance
Marital status has been shown to be associated with mortality, but evidence in Asian populations is limited.Objective
To examine the association of marital status with total and cause-specific mortality.Design, setting, and participants
This cohort study included individual participant data from 16 prospective studies in the Asia Cohort Consortium conducted between 1963 and 2015. Asian participants with complete information on marital and vital status were included. Study-specific hazard ratios (HRs) and 95% CIs were estimated using Cox proportional hazards model and then pooled using a random-effects meta-analysis. The analysis began in February 2021 and ended in August 2021.Exposures
Marital status.Main outcomes and measures
All-cause and cause-specific mortality.Results
Of 623 140 participants (326 397 women [52.4%] and 296 743 men [47.6%]; mean [SD] age, 53.7 [10.2] years; mean [SD] follow-up time, 15.5 [6.1] years), 123 264 deaths were ascertained. Compared with married individuals, those who were unmarried had pooled HRs of 1.15 (95% CI, 1.07-1.24) for total mortality, 1.12 (95% CI, 1.03-1.22) for cerebrovascular disease mortality, 1.20 (95% CI, 1.09-1.31) for coronary heart disease mortality, 1.17 (95% CI, 1.07-1.28) for circulatory system diseases mortality, 1.06 (95% CI, 1.01-1.11) for cancer mortality, 1.14 (95% CI, 1.05-1.23) for respiratory diseases mortality, and 1.19 (95% CI, 1.05-1.34) for external causes of death. Positive associations with total mortality were also observed for those who were single (HR, 1.62; 95% CI, 1.41-1.86), separated (HR, 1.35; 95% CI, 1.13-1.61), divorced (HR, 1.38; 95% CI, 1.13-1.69), and widowed (HR, 1.09; 95% CI, 1.04-1.13). In subgroup analyses, the positive association persisted across baseline health conditions, and the risk of death was more pronounced among men or people younger than 65 years.Conclusions and relevance
This large pooled cohort study of individual participant data provides strong evidence that being unmarried, as well as belonging to the unmarried subcategories, was positively associated with total and cause-specific mortality. Investment of targeted social support services might need to be considered in light of the mortality differences between married and unmarried individuals.
SUBMITTER: Leung CY
PROVIDER: S-EPMC9157263 | biostudies-literature | 2022 May
REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature
Leung Chi Yan CY Huang Hsi-Lan HL Abe Sarah Krull SK Saito Eiko E Islam Md Rashedul MR Rahman Md Shafiur MS Ikeda Ai A Sawada Norie N Tamakoshi Akiko A Gao Yu-Tang YT Koh Woon-Puay WP Shu Xiao-Ou XO Sakata Ritsu R Tsuji Ichiro I Kim Jeongseon J Park Sue K SK Nagata Chisato C You San-Lin SL Yuan Jian-Min JM Shin Myung-Hee MH Pan Wen-Harn WH Tsugane Shoichiro S Kimura Takashi T Wen Wanqing W Cai Hui H Ozasa Kotaro K Matsuyama Sanae S Kanemura Seiki S Sugawara Yumi Y Shin Aesun A Wada Keiko K Chen Chien-Jen CJ Wang Renwei R Ahn Yoon-Ok YO Ahsan Habibul H Boffetta Paolo P Chia Kee Seng KS Matsuo Keitaro K Qiao You-Lin YL Rothman Nathaniel N Zheng Wei W Kang Daehee D Inoue Manami M
JAMA network open 20220502 5
<h4>Importance</h4>Marital status has been shown to be associated with mortality, but evidence in Asian populations is limited.<h4>Objective</h4>To examine the association of marital status with total and cause-specific mortality.<h4>Design, setting, and participants</h4>This cohort study included individual participant data from 16 prospective studies in the Asia Cohort Consortium conducted between 1963 and 2015. Asian participants with complete information on marital and vital status were incl ...[more]