Spousal concordance between married couples regarding to chronic diseases and lifestyle factors

Married couples affect each other's health and health-related lifestyles. Many studies have found that marriage is associated with positive health behaviors and physical health. It has been shown that couples generally have similar risk factors and their similarity tends to increase as the duration of marriage increases. The aim of this study is to determine the concordance between spouses regarding common lifestyle factors such as smoking, exercise and dietary habits, which are known to cause chronic diseases and changeable behavioral risk factors known to cause these diseases. The research was conducted in Bursa Ertuğrul Family Health Center (FHC) No: 36, Osmangazi Yunuseli FHC and Gemlik Şehit Ömer Halisdemir FHC No:8 between November 2020 and January 2021. 171 married couples whose at least one of the spouses having chronic disease at the age of 40 and above were enrolled. A questionnaire form consists of 4 sections: the general information section with demographic data, the section with questions about biological risk factors, tobacco and alcohol usage, and the 3 sub-dimensions of the Healthy Lifestyle Behaviors Scale II (HLBS-II) which are 'Nutrition, Physical Activity and Health responsibility' were used to obtain specific data. In our study, age which is one of the sociodemographic characteristics was found to be concordant in married couples (r=0,892; p<0.001). Spouses were found to be concordant regarding chronic disease risk factors, unchangeable biological features such as obesity in childhood, existence of chronic disease in family, presence of a family history of heart attack at an early age (p=0,263; p=0,053; p=0,504). Couples who were involved in our research was found to have tendency to marry with people who have similar sociocultural background. Body mass index (BMI) of spouses were found to be concordant (r=0,208, p<0,05). It was determined that spouses in our study were not concordant in terms of lifestyle risk factors such as smoking and alcohol usage (p<0,001). It was determined that the couples participating in our study were concordant in terms of healthy lifestyle behaviors such as nutrition, physical activity, health responsibility, HLBS-II scale total, as the duration of marriage increases, the level of nutrition of the spouses increases (r=0,577; r=0,456; r=0,524; r=0,598 respectively; p<0,01), (r=-0,156; p=0,042). In our study, while hypercholesterolemia and coronary artery disease were concordant between spouses (p=0,265; p=0,090), no agreement was found between the spouses in terms of presence of chronic disease, hypertension and diabetes (p<0,001; p=0,030; p=0,044). Consequently, it has been observed that spouses are concordant in terms of healthy lifestyle behaviors and BMI, and as the duration of marriage increases, the compatibility in nutrition increases. For this reason, it will be more effective to target couples together rather than individuals for lifestyle change interventions to reduce the risk of chronic diseases. Keywords: health behavior change, healty life style behavior, spousal concordance.