Spousal body weight concordance and the impact of spouse overweight on death risk: data form a 27-year cohort prospective study

Abstract

Aim. To study the interdependence of spousal body mass and influence of spouse overweight on the death risk according to the 27-year cohort prospective study.Material and methods. We examined a random household sample (n=1546; married couples, 427). Overweight frequency among spouses was studied on the first stage of the study (1988-1991). In 2002-2005 (stage II), the examination was repeated and overweight dynamics were studied. In 2015 (stage III), we analyze mortality rates and significance of overweight and spousal overweight for the mortality risk formation. Overweight was detected in people with body mass index ≥25 kg/m2. Two hundred deaths were recorded during 27-year follow-up. Vital status was established for 97% of observed persons.Results. Overweight was detected in 61,1% of men who lived with overweight wife and in 45% of men whose wife had normal body mass (p<0,01). Overweight was diagnosed more often in women whose husband also had overweight comparing with women who lived with normal weight husband (76,2% vs 61,7%; p<0,001). The risk of overweight formation among individuals whose spouse’s body mass increased from norm to overweight was in 3,04 times higher than in persons whose spouse had a stable normal body mass and in 2,2 times higher than in participants whose spouse had overweight on study stages I and II. Relative risk of mortality in men who lived with overweight wife was 2,07.Conclusion. 1) We found the body mass concordance in spouses. 2) The average body mass index in men and women who lived with overweight spouse is higher than in men and women whose spouse had a normal body mass. 3) Interdependence of spousal body mass was revealed in dynamics. 4) Spousal overweight is an independent predictor of premature mortality in men.