Finding a special soulmate and tying the knot is, of course, cause for celebration, but new research highlights a surprising potential downside of getting married: it may significantly increase your risk of dementia.
What makes the findings unexpected is that many previous studies have shown a variety of health benefits to getting married – benefits that include lower heart disease risk and living to an older age.
The team behind the latest study, led by researchers from the Florida State University College of Medicine, suggests further investigations will be needed into the reasons why single people may be less likely to get dementia – or perhaps are less likely to have it diagnosed.
"Unmarried individuals may have a lower risk of dementia compared to married adults," write the researchers in their published paper.
"The findings could indicate delayed diagnoses among unmarried individuals or challenge the assumption that marriage protects against dementia."
Here are the stats: the researchers looked at the health records of 24,107 elderly people (with an average age of 71.8 years), across the course of 18 years. These people were split into four groups: married, widowed, divorced, and never married.
With risk adjustments only for age and sex, individuals who had never married were 40 percent less likely to develop dementia than married people. For those who had been widowed, the drop was 27 percent, and for those who were divorced, it was 34 percent.
After factoring in more variables, like education, genetics, and other health conditions, the statistical difference for widowed people went away. However, there was still a 24 percent lower risk for never married people, and 17 percent for those who were divorced.
That suggests that some of the discrepancies here are due to factors that aren't related to marital status – and so this isn't proof of direct cause and effect. That said, there's still a noticeable difference in risk for those who have stayed single.
The reasons for this association are likely to be many and varied. The researchers suggest single people might be better at keeping up social ties that can ward off dementia, while the health impacts of unhappy marriages should also be considered.
"There is some evidence indicating an increase in some domains of well-being, such as happiness and life satisfaction, after divorce and social participation after partner bereavement," write the researchers.
"Never married individuals are also more likely to socialize with friends and neighbors and are more likely to engage in healthier behaviors than their married counterparts."
It's worth acknowledging that other studies have shown that being married may protect against dementia – so why the confusion? Variations in the size and diversity of samples, as well as accommodations for different risk factors, might help explain it, but this is clearly a complex issue.
"Our findings that all unmarried groups (widowed, divorced, never married) were associated with a lower dementia risk relative to married participants is contrary to most previous longitudinal studies," write the researchers.
The research has been published in Alzheimer's & Dementia.