“We wanted to find out if many married couples, who often have the same interests, living environment, and health outcomes, also share high blood pressure,” said Dr Varghese.
“We were surprised to find that among many older couples, both husband and wife had high blood pressure in the US, England, China, and India,” said senior author Chihua Li.
The researchers analysed blood pressure data from 3,989 couples in the United States, 1,086 couples in England, 6,514 couples in China, and 22,389 couples in India.
Dr Ravi Kanth, a Consultant Interventional Cardiologist says in reality, it’s not convincing to attribute one partner’s behaviour as the direct cause of the other partner’s hypertension.
According to Dr Ravi Kanth, blood pressure, contrary to popular belief, is not typically linked to anger or behavioural patterns in the majority of cases.
It’s critical to understand that blood pressure typically manifests without any noticeable symptoms, making it imperative to monitor and manage blood pressure regularly.
As of now, there seems to be a lack of substantial empirical support for the idea that a partner’s behaviour directly leads to hypertension in their spouse,” says Dr Kanth.