{"title":"Association between marital status and mortality risk in cardiac disease: a cardiopulmonary exercise testing cohort study.","authors":"Shinya Takahashi, Atsuko Nakayama, Mamoru Nanasato, Mitsuaki Isobe","doi":"10.1265/ehpm.25-00433","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"<p><strong>Background: </strong>Although marital status is a key social determinant of health, its prognostic relevance in cardiopulmonary exercise testing (CPX) cohorts remains unclear. We aimed to evaluate the association between marital status and mortality risk in patients with cardiac disease (CD) who underwent CPX.</p><p><strong>Methods: </strong>This retrospective, single-center observational study involved consecutive patients with CD who underwent post-discharge CPX between 2008 and 2020. Participants (mean age: 69 years; 73% male) were categorized as either unmarried (never married, divorced, or widowed) or married. The primary outcome was all-cause mortality, and the secondary outcome was cardiovascular mortality. We used Cox proportional hazards models to estimate adjusted hazard ratios (aHRs) and 95% confidence intervals (CIs). Model 1 was adjusted for age and sex to estimate the overall association between marital status and outcomes. Model 2 was adjusted for Model 1 covariates and peak VO<sub>2</sub> to account for objectively measured exercise capacity.</p><p><strong>Results: </strong>Of 4,681 patients analyzed, 1,117 were unmarried and 3,564 were married. In Model 1, being married was associated with a lower risk of all-cause mortality (aHR: 0.75, 95% CI: 0.62-0.91, P < 0.001). This association persisted after adjusting for peak VO<sub>2</sub> in Model 2 (aHR: 0.79, 95% CI: 0.65-0.96, P = 0.002). For cardiovascular mortality, the estimates were consistent in direction (Model 1; aHR: 0.64, 95% CI: 0.44-0.93, P = 0.019, Model 2; aHR: 0.69, 95% CI: 0.47-1.02, P = 0.061).</p><p><strong>Conclusions: </strong>In a large CPX cohort of patients with CD, married status was associated with a lower risk of all-cause mortality. The association was attenuated but remained after adjustment for peak VO<sub>2</sub>, suggesting that differences in exercise capacity may contribute but do not fully account for the observed association. Marital status should be interpreted as a social marker rather than a causal or interventional exposure, and future studies should clarify modifiable factors related to prognosis.</p>","PeriodicalId":11707,"journal":{"name":"Environmental Health and Preventive Medicine","volume":"31 ","pages":"26"},"PeriodicalIF":2.9000,"publicationDate":"2026-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC13057906/pdf/","citationCount":"0","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"Environmental Health and Preventive Medicine","FirstCategoryId":"3","ListUrlMain":"https://doi.org/10.1265/ehpm.25-00433","RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"","PubModel":"","JCR":"Q1","JCRName":"PUBLIC, ENVIRONMENTAL & OCCUPATIONAL HEALTH","Score":null,"Total":0}
引用次数: 0
Abstract
Background: Although marital status is a key social determinant of health, its prognostic relevance in cardiopulmonary exercise testing (CPX) cohorts remains unclear. We aimed to evaluate the association between marital status and mortality risk in patients with cardiac disease (CD) who underwent CPX.
Methods: This retrospective, single-center observational study involved consecutive patients with CD who underwent post-discharge CPX between 2008 and 2020. Participants (mean age: 69 years; 73% male) were categorized as either unmarried (never married, divorced, or widowed) or married. The primary outcome was all-cause mortality, and the secondary outcome was cardiovascular mortality. We used Cox proportional hazards models to estimate adjusted hazard ratios (aHRs) and 95% confidence intervals (CIs). Model 1 was adjusted for age and sex to estimate the overall association between marital status and outcomes. Model 2 was adjusted for Model 1 covariates and peak VO2 to account for objectively measured exercise capacity.
Results: Of 4,681 patients analyzed, 1,117 were unmarried and 3,564 were married. In Model 1, being married was associated with a lower risk of all-cause mortality (aHR: 0.75, 95% CI: 0.62-0.91, P < 0.001). This association persisted after adjusting for peak VO2 in Model 2 (aHR: 0.79, 95% CI: 0.65-0.96, P = 0.002). For cardiovascular mortality, the estimates were consistent in direction (Model 1; aHR: 0.64, 95% CI: 0.44-0.93, P = 0.019, Model 2; aHR: 0.69, 95% CI: 0.47-1.02, P = 0.061).
Conclusions: In a large CPX cohort of patients with CD, married status was associated with a lower risk of all-cause mortality. The association was attenuated but remained after adjustment for peak VO2, suggesting that differences in exercise capacity may contribute but do not fully account for the observed association. Marital status should be interpreted as a social marker rather than a causal or interventional exposure, and future studies should clarify modifiable factors related to prognosis.
期刊介绍:
The official journal of the Japanese Society for Hygiene, Environmental Health and Preventive Medicine (EHPM) brings a comprehensive approach to prevention and environmental health related to medical, biological, molecular biological, genetic, physical, psychosocial, chemical, and other environmental factors.
Environmental Health and Preventive Medicine features definitive studies on human health sciences and provides comprehensive and unique information to a worldwide readership.