The American journal of geriatric psychiatry : official journal of the American Association for Geriatric Psychiatry
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Am J Geriatr Psychiatry · Mar 2009
Spousal suffering and partner's depression and cardiovascular disease: the Cardiovascular Health Study.
To assess the effects of suffering in a spouse on prevalent and incident psychiatric (depression) and physical morbidity (cardiovascular disease [CVD]) in their partner, controlling for known risk factors for depression and CVD. ⋯ Exposure to spousal suffering is an independent and unique source of distress in married couples that contributes to psychiatric and physical morbidity. More attention should be paid to the interpersonal effects of suffering in married couples and to its role in contributing to morbidity.