Smoking predicts stroke risk for spouse

BOSTON, July 31 (UPI) -- For those who never smoked, being married to a smoker is associated with a 42 percent increase in risk of stroke, U.S. researchers say.

M. Maria Glymour of the Harvard School of Public Health in Boston said for former smokers, being married to a current smoker was associated with a 72 percent increase in risk compared to being married to someone who has never smoked.

The study, published in the September issue of the American Journal of Preventive Medicine, said being married to a former smoker was not associated with any increase in risk compared to being married to a someone who has never smoked, and this suggests that although stroke risk is elevated if your spouse smokes, that risk is eliminated if your spouse stops smoking.

For example, so-called never-smokers married to former smokers had nearly the same stroke risk as never-smokers married to never-smokers. Current smokers had significantly elevated stroke rates compared to never-smokers, and spousal smoking status did not affect this risk among current smokers.

The researchers used data drawn from the Health and Retirement Study, a National Institute on Aging sponsored longitudinal survey of U.S. adults nationwide age 50 and over and their spouses. Enrollments occurred in 1992, 1993, 1998 and 2004 and final analyses included 16,225 respondents.