Prenatal growth and subsequent marital status: longitudinal study.

Unmarried men have higher rates of cardiovascular disease and a shorter lifespan than married men. The hypotheses that have been proposed to explain this are either that healthier men tend to marry or that the social support offered by marriage is protective. It is also possible that factors leading people to remain unmarried are linked with the susceptibility to cardiovascular disease. As small size at birth is associated with an increased risk of cardiovascular disease, we hypothesised that restriction of prenatal growth might be associated with marital status. We tested this in two long term prospective birth cohorts of men who belonged to generations in which marriage was a social norm.