Research: Having more than one wife increases risk of heart disease in men

Saudi Arabia: Having more than one wife is not good for your health, scientists have found.

Men with more than one wife, who practise what is known as polygamy, suffer a four-fold increase of heart disease, according to medical researchers.

The risk and severity of heart disease increased with the number of wives, they found.

Polygamy is practised in many countries in Africa, the Middle East, central and south-east Asia with wives often living in separate households from their husbands.

The findings were made by cardiologist Dr Amin Daoulah of the King Faisal Specialist Hospital and Research centre in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, where polygamy is legal.

Dr Daoulah said: “There is evidence that married people have better overall health and longevity but until now no study has assessed the effect of polygamy on cardiovascular health.”

He studied the health records of 687 married men and found that those with more than one wife had a higher rate of coronary heart disease (CAD) than monogamous men.

The researchers found a significant association between the number of wives and the presence of CAD and disease of the main arteries.

Men who practised polygamy had a 4.6-fold increased risk of CAD, a 3.5-fold increased risk of disease in the left main artery and a 2.6-fold elevated risk of multi-vessel disease.

Dr Daoulah said: “We found an association between an increasing number of wives and the severity and number of coronary blockages.

“This could be because the need to provide and maintain separate households multiplies the financial burden and emotional expense.

“Each household must be treated fairly and equally, and it seems likely that the stress of doing that for several spouses and possibly several families of children is considerable.”

Professor Michel Komajda, ex-president of the European Cardiology Society, said: "We know that long-term stress in family life increases the risk of coronary heart disease and it would be interesting to see what effect polygamy had on wives’ risk.”