Married couples end up with same health issues, study finds

COUPLES who stay together get ill together, a study has discovered.

They end up with the same health problems which may even be similar enough for doctors to treat them together.

GettyDoctors could judge someone’s health risk just by looking at their partner[/caption]

Medical boffins found people’s high blood pressure, unhealthy cholesterol, diabetes and heart disease were closely linked to that of their partner.

Couples’ smoking and drinking habits, and their weight and waist size, were also similar.

It meant doctors could judge someone’s risk simply by looking at their partner.

Experts at Tohoku University in Japan said the study of 34,000 couples spotted “significant spousal similarities” in heart health. And the links were so close that couples could get the same healthcare.

The study found that someone was 37 per cent more likely to be obese if their partner was.

Men’s high blood pressure risk was up to 45 per cent higher if their wife had the condition, and people were up to 59 per cent more likely to get Type 2 diabetes if their spouse had it.

Dr Naoki Nakaya said: “Interventions or preventative measures may be more effective if targeted at both spouses rather than at individuals.”

Dr Nakaya explained reasons for the links could be people naturally hook up with someone with a similar lifestyle. And when they are together couples tend to eat the same meals and do similar amounts of exercise.