Marital Discord Can Harm the Heart
Family problems rival smoking and cholesterol as a risk factor

(HealthDay News) -- Bickering, controlling spouses might be setting themselves up for heart disease.

And the damage they sustain appears to differ by sex, researchers have found.

The more hostile women were with their husbands, the more likely they were to have atherosclerosis, or hardening of the arteries, according to a study by University of Utah researchers. Women whose husbands also behaved in a hostile manner had particularly high levels of calcification, an accumulation of calcium on the arterial walls.

In men, hostility was not related to atherosclerosis. But if the men or their wives were more dominant or controlling, they were more likely than other men to have severe hardening of the arteries.

In terms of atherosclerosis, marital discord "was as large an effect, statistically, as traditional risk factors like smoking, cholesterol, blood pressure, activity level, etcetera, but smaller than the effect for age and sex," study leader Tim Smith, a psychology professor at the University of Utah , told HealthDay .

The findings were presented at a meeting of the American Psychosomatic Society, whose mission is to advance the science of psychological factors on physical health.

Janice Kiecolt-Glaser, professor and director of the Division of Health Psychology at Ohio State University College of Medicine, has conducted extensive research into the effects of stress on the immune system.

"There are well-documented differences in the ways that men and women talk and relate to one another, so finding gender-linked differences rated to heart risks makes sense to me," she told HealthDay .

Atherosclerosis begins with damage to the lining of the arteries, says the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute. Over time, fat, cholesterol, calcium and other substances begin to plaster the arterial walls, causing the arteries to become rigid and narrow. That accumulation of "plaque" impedes the flow of oxygen-rich blood to the heart and other parts of the body, which can cause a heart attack, stroke or even death.

Despite mounting scientific evidence suggesting a relationship between cardiovascular disease and psychosocial factors, it's unclear whether stress acts as an independent risk factor for heart disease, says the American Heart Association. Rather, the association says, it could be that acute and chronic stress affects other risk factors and behaviors, such as high blood pressure and cholesterol levels, smoking, physical inactivity and overeating.

Nonetheless, evidence suggests that learning to manage the stresses in life can be beneficial. (And that's as true for singles as for spouses.)

According to the book Making Marriage Work for Dummies , marital problems can snowball when couples take personal stresses out on one another. The authors suggest various ways to break the cycle:

• Understand the different ways that your partner deals with stress.
• When one person is grumpy or stressed out, the other should try not to take his or her attacks personally.
• Both people should tell each other what they need from the other when they're under stress.
• Forgive each other for petty finger-pointing.
• Don't expect perfection. There's no such thing as a perfect spouse.
• Find ways to take care of your partner and yourself.
• Plan some time away from your normal routine. A change of scenery can help people relax and deal with stressors more productively.

On the Web

To learn more about managing stress, visit the American Heart Association.

SOURCES: HealthDay News ; Tim Smith, Ph.D., professor of psychology, University of Utah, Salt Lake City; Janice Kiecolt-Glaser, Ph.D., professor and director, Division of Health Psychology, Department of Psychiatry, Ohio State University College of Medicine, Columbus, Ohio; March 3, 2006, University of Utah, news release; National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute, Bethesda, Md.; American Heart Association (www.americanheart.org); Dummies.com (www.dummies.com)
Author: Karen Pallarito
Publication Date: Oct. 31, 2008
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