What!! Marriage may raise dementia risk, but why!

When it comes to marriage, it is an extremely personal decision, and one should have the liberty to choose to get married or not. However, for the majority of us, marriage is seen as a benchmark for love, compatibility, and lifelong commitment. However, a recent study claims that marriage might raise the risk of dementia in older age as well. But is that the whole truth? We try to find out...

Latest study
A study conducted by Selin Karakose and colleagues at Florida State University tracked over 24,000 Americans, with an average age of about 72, for up to 18 years. They looked at four groups: married, widowed, divorced, and never married. The results were unexpected.


Married people at the risk of dementia?
As the study authors wrote, “Unmarried individuals may have a lower risk of dementia compared to married adults”. After adjusting for age and gender, people who had never married were found to be 40% less likely to develop dementia than those who were married. Widowed people had a 27% lower risk, and divorced people had a 34% lower risk.

Another expert explained, “Contrary to expectations and challenging the commonly held belief that marriage is protective against cognitive decline and dementia, this study found that married older adults exhibited a higher risk of dementia compared to those never married, divorced, and widowed”.

Surprising results
This particular study challenges earlier studies that said marriage is good for your health. Married people are thought to have stronger immune systems, less stress, and more support at home, which should lower their risk of diseases, including dementia. But this new research, published in the journal Alzheimer’s & Dementia, flips that idea on its head.
The researchers suggest that being unmarried might not make someone more vulnerable to cognitive decline, as was previously believed. In fact, the study found that divorced or never-married people consistently showed a lower risk of developing dementia over the study period.

What could be the possible causes?
The study does not give a clear answer as to why married people might have a higher risk of dementia. The authors note, “These results might suggest a delay in diagnosis among unmarried individuals or challenge the belief that marriage serves as a protective factor against dementia”.

However, some assumed theories could be

Married people may have smaller social networks and be less self-reliant, which could affect brain health.
The stress of caregiving or relationship issues in marriage might play a role.

It’s also possible that unmarried people are less likely to be diagnosed with dementia, rather than actually having a lower risk.


What does that mean?
This study in no way says that everyone who is married will get dementia. What the study instead claims, is that the link between marriage and dementia is a complicated one, and more research is needed on the matter. Instead of worrying about whether to marry or not to cut down their dementia risk, individuals should concentrate on finding the right partner, who would enrich their lives in many ways and work at making their marriage rock solid and happy, that will anyway lead to less stress/risk of getting dementia.