Healthy vows: Married folks are less likely to have any kind of heart problem, big study finds

What's good for the heart? Marriage, researchers say.

A study of more than 3.5 million Americans finds that married people are less likely than singles, divorced or widowed folks to suffer any type of heart or blood vessel problem.

This was true at any age, for women as well as for men, and regardless of other heart disease risk factors they had such as high cholesterol or diabetes.

The study by researchers at New York University involved people who sought screening tests for cancer or other conditions from a private company offering them in community settings around the country.

Married people had a 5 per cent lower risk of any cardiovascular disease compared to singles. Widowed people had a 3 per cent greater risk and divorced people, a 5 per cent greater risk.