SynthesisGlobal health research and policy2020
Sex differences in the association between marital status and the risk of cardiovascular, cancer, and all-cause mortality: a systematic review and meta-analysis of 7,881,040 individuals.
Synthesis in Global health research and policy, 2020. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 75 papers, 5 of them syntheses that pooled it.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
75 citing papers in PubMed, 5 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 157 citations in OpenAlex.
- Association between Marital/Partner Status and Patient-Reported Outcomes in Stroke Patients: A Systematic Review.Cerebrovascular diseases (Basel, Switzerland) · 2026Pooled it
- Impacts of exposure to humidex on cardiovascular mortality: a multi-city study in Southwest China.BMC public health · 2023Pooled it
- Marital status and survival in cancer patients: A systematic review and meta-analysis.Cancer medicine · 2023Pooled it
- Association of Marital Status With Total and Cause-Specific Mortality in Asia.JAMA network open · 2022Pooled it
- Association between exposure to ambient air pollution and hospital admission, incidence, and mortality of stroke: an updated systematic review and meta-analysis of more than 23 million participants.Environmental health and preventive medicine · 2021Pooled it
- Assessing the Needs of Community Mental Health Service Users with Chronic Physical Health Conditions: A Cross-Sectional Study.Community mental health journal · 2026Article
- Socioeconomic Status, Alcohol Use, and Mortality: Results From a Prospective Cohort Study.Alcohol, clinical & experimental research · 2026Article
- Screening Breast MRI and Genetic Testing Utilization in High-risk Population: Analysis of National Health Interview Survey.Journal of breast imaging · 2026Article
- Self-rated health and inflammation: Associations among partnered sexual minority and heterosexual adults.Health psychology : official journal of the Division of Health Psychology, American Psychological Association · 2026Article
- Early and late mortality among patients with T1-T3 head and neck squamous cell carcinoma: a machine learning analysis using a SEER population-based cohort study.Scientific reports · 2026Article
- Pair-bond and survival in historical population: Marriage, widowhood, and social class.iScience · 2026Article
- Familial healthy aging and longevity: the role of spouses.BMC medicine · 2026Article
- Marriage and Cancer Risk: A Contemporary Population-Based Study Across Demographic Groups and Cancer Types.Cancer research communications · 2026Article
- Comparison of all-cause mortality risk factors in a population-based cohort study.Scientific reports · 2026Article
- Article
- Relationship status and the neurobehavioral symptoms of multiple sclerosis: a cross-sectional analysis.Journal of neurology · 2026Article
- Spiritual Well-Being in Coronary Heart Disease Patients: A Scoping Review.Journal of religion and health · 2026Article
- Life after loss: cognitive differences by gender and age following widowhood or divorce transitions.The journals of gerontology. Series B, Psychological sciences and social sciences · 2026Article
- Gender differences in the association between marriage and epigenetic age.Frontiers in aging · 2026Article
- Meta-analysis of the association between marital status and hypertension: evaluating the impact of age and gender.American journal of cardiovascular disease · 2026Review
15 more citing papers are in PubMed but not listed here.
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
11 authors at 10 institutions in 4 countries.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
Purpose: To ascertain whether sex differences exist in the relationship between marital status and cardiovascular diseases (CVD), coronary heart disease (CHD), cancer and all-cause mortality in the general population and to explore the potential effect of age, location, the duration of follow-up and publication years on these outcomes. Methods: A systematic search was performed in PubMed and EMBASE from inception through to April 2018 and review of references to obtain sex-specific relative risks and their 95% confidence intervals. These were used to derive the women-to-men ratio of RRs (RRR) and 95% CI for each study. RRs and RRRs for each outcome were then pooled using random effects inverse-variance weighted meta-analysis. Results: Twenty-one studies with 7,891,623 individuals and 1,888,752 deaths were included in the meta-analysis. Compared with married individuals, being unmarried was significantly associated with all-cause, cancer, CVD and coronary heart disease mortalities for both sexes. However, the association with CVD and all-cause mortality was stronger in men. Being divorced/separated was associated with a higher risk of all-cause mortality in men and a stronger risk of cancer and CVD mortality. The pooled ratio for women versus men showed 31 and 9% greater risk of stroke mortality and all-cause mortality associated with never married in men than in women. Conclusions: Being unmarried conferred higher risk of stroke and all-cause mortality for men than women. Moreover, divorced/separated men had higher risk of cancer mortality and CVD mortality. Further studies are warranted to clarify the biological, behavioral, and/or social mechanisms involved in sex differences by these associations.
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Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.