Could marriage lower dementia risk?

A Michigan State University study found that married people may be less likely to develop dementia as they age.

The research also suggests that divorcees are more likely to develop dementia compared to those who are widowed, cohabiters or did not marry at all.

Another interesting find? Divorced men have it worse. They have a 2.6 times higher chance of developing dementia than married men, while divorced women have a 30 percent increased risk versus married women.

The study, published in The Journal of Gerontology: Series B, focused on four types of unmarried individuals – divorced/separated, widowed, never married and cohabiters.

This study was 14 years in the making. The respondents were at least 52 years old in 2000 and their cognitive function was measured every two years through 2014. They also sifted through representative data on more than 15,000 individuals collected between 2000 and 2014.

“This research is important because the number of unmarried older adults in the United States continues to grow, as people live longer and their marital histories become more complex,” head researcher Hui Liu said in a press release. “Marital status is an important but overlooked social risk/protective factor for dementia.”

“There are a lot of theories about why marriage might be good for general health,” said Lui. “Married people, of course, are financially better off than those who do not have a spouse…But there are factors other than economics that play just as strongly into this. There’s the social psychology benefit.”

The study recognized differences between economic statuses and/or resources that could account for higher dementia rates among the divorced, widowed or never married participants. However, it couldn’t account for higher risk among cohabiters.

General behaviors and chronic health conditions only appeared to slightly impact risk rates among the divorced and married couples; however, it didn’t appear to influence other marital statuses in any way.

“These findings will be helpful for health policy makers and practitioners who seek to better identify vulnerable populations and to design effective intervention strategies to reduce dementia risk,” Liu said.