WOMEN who marry younger husbands are likely to have a shorter life expectancy.
The younger their husbands are, the more likely they will live a short life, said a study released last month.
For instance, women with husbands seven to nine years younger have a 20 per cent higher chance of death, compared to women who marry men their age.
But the risk rises to 30 per cent if the age difference is 15 to 17 years.
Women my paper spoke to were not too concerned by the findings.
Freelance writer Ana Ow, 33, said: “It’s not realistic that someone looks for a partner with such studies in mind. People find their life partners because of an emotional connection.”
Her husband is 22 years old.
Miss Jaclyn Lam, 26, said the study would only be at the “back of my head” because there are more important factors to consider when finding her partner.
“Factors like common interests and feelings for the person,” said the civil servant.
The study was done by Germany- based Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research.
It covered 1.9 million people aged 50 and above in Denmark from 1990 to 2005.
It also found that men with wives seven to nine years younger have a 10 per cent lower risk of death, compared to men with wives of a similar age. The risk decreases further with even younger wives.
Max Planck Institute researcher Sven Drefahl told my paper that the reasons behind the results for women are not clear as few studies have been done on them.
He noted that younger partners are generally able to provide better care for their spouses because they tend to be healthier than older partners.
This, Mr Drefahl said, could explain why men have a lower chance of dying if they have younger wives.
But he said the most probable reason for the results in men is that “unhealthy men are less likely to be able to find a younger partner attracted to them”, compared to men who are healthy.
Dr Francis Ngui, a psychiatrist with Adam Road Medical Centre, said that the study’s findings might suggest that when men marry younger women, there could be lifestyle changes, like switching to a healthier diet, that could make a difference to their lifespan.
“But when women marry younger men, perhaps any lifestyle changes that occur do not reduce their risks of dying as they already live longer than men in general,” he said.
For more my paper stories click here.
