Spouse concordance for systolic and diastolic blood pressure

Eighty-two per cent of all adult residents of Rancho Bernardo, California, participated in a study of the prevalence of heart disease risk factors in 1972-1974. Spouse correlations for systolic and diastolic blood pressure were examined in 1702 spouse pairs including 403 spouse pairs married 40 or more years. Both systolic and diastolic blood pressure showed significant spouse correlation after adjustment for spouse similarities in age and relative weight (r = 0.102 for systolic, r = 0.114 for diastolic, p less than or equal to 0.05). An examination of blood pressure correlations by duration of marriage and age of wife showed correlations to be influenced by age of wife rather than duration of marriage. Spouse correlations were lowest when the wife was aged 40-49 years and highest when the wife was 50-59 years of age. The differential concordance by wife's age is compatible with different degrees of shared behaviors for couples at different ages.