Spousal metabolic risk factors and incident hypertension: A longitudinal cohort study in Iran

We investigated the association between metabolic risk factors in one spouse with incident hypertension in the other. Study sample included 1528 men and 1649 women aged ≥20 years from the Tehran lipid and glucose study with information on body mass index (BMI), waist circumference (WC), hypertension, type 2 diabetes mellitus (DM), and dyslipidemia. The hazard ratio (HR) and 95% confidence interval (95% CI) were estimated for the association of spousal metabolic factors and incident hypertension among men and women separately. A total of 604 and 566 cases of incident hypertension were observed in men and women, respectively. Among men, spousal DM was associated with a 40% (CI: 1.07-1.83) excess risk of hypertension after adjusting for the men's own and their spouse's risk factors including BMI, DM, smoking, and physical activity level. Among women, spousal DM was associated with more than two times (2.11, 1.69-2.63) higher risk of hypertension. After further adjustment for the women's own and their spouse's risk factors, the association was attenuated and remained marginally significant (1.25, 0.99-1.58; P value = .053). Having a spouse with DM increases an individual's risk of hypertension, which raises the possibility of using preexisting information of one partner to guide the screening of the other partner.