抄録
In order to answer the following two questions: 1) Does significant spouse concordance for blood pressure exist? and 2) If so, does the shared marital environment offer a plausible explanation for the observed concordance?, we conducted a survey of the inhabitants of remote islands in Kagoshima prefecture. A total of 63 husband-wife pairs living together were covered. Each member underwent an individual interview for food intake and measurements of blood pressure, height and weight. Samples of blood and urine were obtained from each person and analysed for serum cholesterol level, fatty acid compositions in serum lipid and the concentrations of urinary sodium, potassium and creatinine excretions. The following findings were made:
1) When the 63 spouse pairs were classified into two groups using the age of the husband, a statistically significant spouse concordance for both systolic and diastolic blood pressure was found among the spouse pairs in which the husband's age was 60 years or older, when the common environment had been shared for a long time. However, the spouse concordance for blood pressure was not significant among the spouse pairs in which the husband's age was less than 60 years.
2) Statistically significant correlations were demonstrated between husband-wife pairs across all age groups for the daily intakes of fish, vegetables, meat and oil. However, the correlation of daily edible salt intake was significant only among the spouse pairs in which the husband's age was less than 60 years.
3) When viewed across all age groups, significant positive correlations were demonstrated between husbands and wives for the proportion of sodium to potassium in urine and icosapentaenoic acid (20:5) to arachidonic acid (20:4) in serum lipid, but no spouse concordance was present for serum cholesterol level and the obesity index.
4) From the facts mentioned above, the observed concordance of blood pressure among the spouse pairs in which the husband's age was 60 years or more could not be fully explained by the shared environment on the basis of spouse concordance of food intake.
