Analysis links marriage to lower dementia risk

Being divorced not tied to higher chance

Being married, or ever having been married, comes with a much lower risk of developing dementia compared with being a lifelong bachelor or bachelorette, a new analysis of previous studies suggests.

Researchers found that people who never married were 42 percent more likely than those who were married at midlife to ever be diagnosed with dementia. Being divorced, though, was not tied to higher dementia risk compared with the folks who stayed married.

“Our findings, from large populations across numerous countries and time periods, are the strongest evidence yet that married people are less likely to develop dementia. We can be fairly certain of this considering that we have looked at close to a million people,” said lead author Dr. Andrew Sommerlad of University College, London.

“What we can’t be certain of in this study is what the explanation for this is,” he said in a phone interview.

Sommerlad and his team analyzed 15 studies published up to the end of 2016 that looked at the potential role of marital status on dementia risk. The new analysis included more than 812,000 participants in those studies, half of whom were 65 years of age or older.

Although one study from Sweden contributed the vast majority of participants, the other studies were also broadly in agreement with the results of that one, the authors note in the Journal of Neurology, Neurosurgery & Psychiatry.

The widowed have a 20 percent increased risk of developing dementia compared with married individuals, Sommerlad noted. He speculates that this may be due to the stress of bereavement.

As for the lack of difference between married people and those who divorced, Sommerlad attributes it to the possibility that a lot of divorced people continue to keep in contact.