Spousal concordance for hypertension: A meta-analysis of observational studies

The authors performed a meta-analysis of observational studies to estimate the magnitude of spousal concordance for hypertension and to examine whether the concordance varied by important study methodological aspects. PubMed and Embase were searched up to June 2017 for cross-sectional, case-control, and cohort studies that investigated the concordance/association of hypertension between spouse pairs. A meta-analysis with random-effects models was performed by pooling adjusted odds ratios. Eight studies with a total number of 81 928 spouse pairs were eligible. The pooled results showed that spouses of individuals with hypertension had 41% (odds ratio, 1.41; 95% confidence interval, 1.21-1.64) increased odds of having hypertension themselves. The association applied to both men and women, and was not significantly different between studies with adjustment for body mass index and those without. The findings highlighted the importance of environmental factors in the development of hypertension.