Multigenerational Living and Women’s Hearts

According to research recently announced in the April issue of Heart, women who live in multigenerational households have double the risk of experiencing a coronary event as women who only live with a spouse. Iso of Osaka University in Japan studied 91,000 Japanese men and women between 40 and 69 years old for 11 years. They examined the incidence of coronary heart disease (CHD) in relation to living arrangements, and found that men were not affected by living in multigenerational households. Women, however, in these situations reported high stress. Those living in two-generation households had twice the risk of CHD as those only living with a spouse: those in three-generation households had three times the risk. These findings may impact the country’s health policies, especially since they are experiencing a falling marriage rate, rapid aging of the population and an increasing number of women in the workforce.