Depressive symptoms can contribute to poor cardiovascular health (CVH) but prior research largely focused on individual-based studies. Yet, health behaviours and outcomes are interlinked within social relationships, particularly in spouses. This study examined how depressive symptoms in opposite-sex spouses may jointly and uniquely impact CVH over time.
We analysed 4360 opposite-sex spousal dyads in the Health and Retirement Study—a prospective cohort of middle-aged and older adults (2004–2016). Depressive symptoms were measured at baseline (2004/2006) using the 8-item Center for Epidemiologic Studies-Depression scale. CVH scores (range: 0–100; higher scores=better CVH), based on body mass index, blood pressure, fasting glucose, total cholesterol and smoking were assessed across three follow-up waves (2006/2008–2014/2016; 8-year follow-up period). We used the Actor–Partner Interdependence Model and latent growth curve modelling to examine how both spouses’ depressive symptoms were associated with subsequent CVH, adjusting for sociodemographics and prior cardiovascular disease.
In wives, a one-unit increment in depressive symptoms at baseline was associated with lower CVH scores (β=–1.25; 95% CI –1.60 to –0.91) at Wave 2. Similar associations were observed in husbands (β=–1.19; 95% CI –1.58 to –0.81). Wives’ depressive symptoms were also associated with lower husbands’ CVH scores (β=–0.39; 95% CI –0.70 to –0.07), while husbands’ depressive symptoms were associated with faster CVH decline in wives over time (β=–0.08; 95% CI –0.14 to –0.03). No other significant spousal effects were found.
Depressive symptoms in both spouses may contribute to one’s own and one’s partner’s CVH, with distinct gender-specific patterns. These results may inform targeted dyadic interventions to optimise CVH in middle-aged and older opposite-sex couples.