Background:Little is known about the risk of subsequent cardiovascular events in individuals whose spouse has a history of cardiovascular diseases. We assessed whether the spouse’s history of cardiovascular disease is associated with a greater risk of cardiovascular events.Methods:Using data on married couples from the Japan Medical Data Center database (April 2008–August 2018), we conducted a matched-pair cohort study by matching individuals who had no history of cardiovascular disease and whose spouse had a history of cardiovascular disease at their first health check-up (exposure group) with up to 4 individuals who had no history of cardiovascular disease and whose spouse had no history of cardiovascular disease at their first health check-up (nonexposure group) matched for birth year, sex, and first health check-up year. We compared severe cardiovascular events after the first health check-up between the 2 groups.Results:Among 236 527 eligible married couples (473 054 spouses), we identified 13 759 individuals in the exposure group who were matched with 55 027 individuals in the nonexposure group. During the mean 95-month observational period from the first health check-up, the percentage of individuals with severe cardiovascular events was higher in the exposure group than in the nonexposure group (0.6% [82/13 759] versus 0.4% [224/55 027], respectively), with a hazard ratio of 1.48 (95% CI, 1.15–1.90). Analyses stratified by sex showed that the hazard ratios of the exposure to the spouse’s history of cardiovascular disease for severe cardiovascular events in women and men were 1.22 (95% CI, 0.82–1.83) and 1.68 (95% CI, 1.22–2.32), respectively.Conclusions:This study suggests that a spouse’s history of cardiovascular disease can be a risk factor for subsequent cardiovascular events in men but not in women. Further studies are needed to confirm our findings and to explore effective primary prevention strategies for these individuals.

中文翻译：

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配偶心血管疾病是中年人心血管疾病的危险因素：配对队列研究

背景：对于配偶有心血管疾病病史的个体，其随后发生心血管事件的风险知之甚少。我们评估了配偶的心血管疾病史是否与更大的心血管事件风险相关。将无心血管疾病史且其配偶在首次体检时有心血管疾病史的个体（暴露组）与最多 4 个无心血管疾病史且其配偶无心血管疾病史的个体进行匹配在他们的第一次健康检查（非暴露组）中与出生年份、性别和第一次健康检查年份相匹配。我们比较了两组在第一次体检后的严重心血管事件。 结果：在 236 527 对符合条件的已婚夫妇（473 054 名配偶）中，我们确定了暴露组的 13 759 人与非暴露组的 55 027 人匹配团体。在第一次健康检查后的平均 95 个月观察期内，暴露组发生严重心血管事件的个体百分比高于非暴露组（0.6% [82/13 759] 对 0.4% [224/ 55 027]，风险比为 1.48（95% CI，1.15–1.90）。按性别分层的分析表明，配偶心血管疾病史对女性和男性严重心血管事件的危害比分别为 1.22（95% CI，0.82-1.83）和 1.68（95% CI，1.22-2.32），分别。结论：这项研究表明，配偶的心血管疾病史可能是男性随后发生心血管事件的危险因素，但女性则不然。需要进一步的研究来证实我们的发现，并为这些人探索有效的一级预防策略。