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CDC report: Marriage improves adults' health

Physician Practice Advisor, January 4, 2005

A new report from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) suggests that married adults are healthier than divorced, widowed, or never married adults.

The report, Marital Status and Health: United States, 1999-2002, was based on interviews with 127,545 adults aged 18 and over as part of the National Health Interview Survey, conducted by CDC's National Center for Health Statistics.

The findings include the following:

• Married adults are less likely than other adults to be in fair or poor health, and are less likely to suffer from health conditions such as headaches and serious psychological distress.
• Married adults are less likely to be limited in work and other activities of daily living.
• Married adults are less likely to smoke, drink heavily, or be sedentary. However, married men are more likely to be overweight or obese than other men.
• Adults who live in cohabiting relationships are more likely to have health problems than married adults.

Although the results show that married adults are generally in better health than unmarried adults, the reasons for better health status among married adults cannot be determined with the cross-sectional data collected in the National Health Interview Survey.

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