A recent study compared the concordance of hypertension within heterosexual couples and found that in as many as 47% of all hypertension cases, when one spouse has hypertension, so does the other spouse. Within the 4 countries studied, researchers observed a high overall prevalence of hypertension, ranging from 40% to 65% for both wives and husbands separately. At the same time, they observed a high prevalence of spousal concordant hypertension, ranging from 20% to more than 40%. The prevalence of concordant hypertension within couples was 37.9% (95% CI, 35.8–40.0) in the United States; 47.1% (95% CI, 43.2–50.9) in England; 20.8% (95% CI, 19.6–21.9) in China; and 19.8% (95% CI, 19.0–20.5) in India. Couples in the study, which was presented in the Journal of the American Heart Association, had been married for a mean time of 30 years.
Your other half: The “me too” hypertension status within the nearly 4,000 American couples in this study should not be surprising. Married couples tend to have similar lifestyles and behaviors, such as eating habits and exercise levels. Researchers believe couple‐based interventions to diagnose, treat, and manage hypertension could be helpful, such as couples‐based screening, skills training, or joint participation in a disease management program. Learn more about treating hypertension in adults from the JUCM archive: Implementing Clinical Practice Guidelines In Adults With Hypertension: An Effective Practice Change In Urgent Care