William Dale, MD, PhD, chief of geriatrics and palliative medicine at the University of Chicago, and colleagues used a nationally-representative sample including data from 2010 to identify 804 heterosexual married couples from a total sample of 3,137 adults aged 55 to 90 years.
Here are five points:
1. The researchers found 61 percent of married men versus 52 percent of unmarried men had a colonoscopy in the past five years, whereas married and unmarried women had comparable colonoscopy rates.
2. Men and women are almost twice as likely to have a colonoscopy if their spouse had one recently.
3. Moreover, the researchers found men are more likely to have a colonoscopy if their wives are happier with the relationship, more highly educated and viewed as more supportive. Conversely, neither the husband’s happiness with the relationship nor his education level was found to be associated with colonoscopy rates in his wife.
4. The researchers concluded colonoscopy use is highly correlated among married couples and that marriage is associated with greater benefits for men versus women in terms of colonoscopy rates.
5. Finally, strategies for increasing colonoscopy use should consider the role of spouses.
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