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Marital Quality And Cardiovascular Risk In Women During The Menopausal Transition, Tracy E. Brown

Theses and Dissertations

Marital quality is linked to health benefits for men and women. Although women have less risk factors than men for cardiovascular disease prior to menopause, their risk increases substantially after menopause. The purpose of this study was to assess the impact of marital quality and vasomotor symptoms on cardiovascular risk factors including C-reactive protein (CRP) and carotid intima-media thickness (cIMT) in women before, during, and after the menopausal transition. The final sample consisted of 92 married women between the ages of 40 and 60 years. Hypotheses were tested using hierarchical regression and general linear modeling. Results suggest that greater marital …