Bennett-Britton et al’s recently published study of the association between changes in marital quality and cardiovascular disease risk factors in men from the Avon Longitudinal Study of Parents and Children (ALSPAC study) provided a longitudinal representation of how marital quality affects cardiovascular health.
An important excluded population was divorced men. A total of 116 men (which would be 19% of the final study population) were excluded because they were not confirmed to be married and/or the father of the child at the first or second follow-up visit. The average divorce rate during the study period in England and Wales, where the cohort is located, was 12.9 per 1000 married men and women.