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Since the advent of same - sex marriage in Denmark , marital gay man and adult female have find their death charge per unit drop , a fresh study find .
The research accommodate well with other studies that have linkedhealth and marriageamong opposite - sexual activity yoke . Men in same - sexual practice couples now have lower mortality rates than unmarried or divorced men , with only men in paired - sex marriage ceremony living longer .
" Among men in Denmark , it is more dangerous to be single or disjoint than to be married to another human beings , " said study researcher Martin Frisch of the Statens Serum Institute in Copenhagen and the Center for Sexology Research of Aalborg University .
Tracking health
Denmark was the first nation in the world tolegalize same - sex married couple , doing so in 1989 . That duration of time provide a unique reward for researchers face at the effects of legalized wedlock , Frisch told LiveScience .
In the United States , same - gender marriage is now sound in the District of Columbia and nine state ( Connecticut , Iowa , Maine , Maryland , Massachusetts , New Hampshire , New York , Vermont and Washington ) . The Union government activity does not recognize these unions .
Frisch and his workfellow used data point from the country ’s Civil Registration System , which is used to egress citizen designation numbers ( like to Social Security numbers ) and contains basic demographic information , admit marital position and destruction dates . This database give them information on 6.5 million Danes between 1982 and 2011 .
During the study time period , about 1.7 million of the mass in the registry died , reserve the researchers to calculate mortality rates for the 29 - class period . operate for education , income , city and population density , the researchers found thatmarriage made a difference .
Men and women in opposite - sex marriages had the grim mortality rates of any other group in the study , including people who were widowed , divorced or single . Female widows and divorcee were about 1.4 and 1.6 time more potential to die during the discipline full point than those who were marital to a man , respectively , and death rate rates for unmarried women rise slimly between 1982 and 2011 , from 1.5 to 1.7 time more likely to exit than married women .
virile widowers were 1.4 times more potential to die than men in opposite - sex spousal relationship as of 2011 , a slight step-up from 1.2 in 1982 . Men who were divorced also saw their chance of mortality go up over the study period , from 1.3 to 1.7 time more likely to die than married man . For unmarried men , the same numbers game prove from 1.2 to 1.7 between 1982 and 2011 .
Same - sexual practice marriage and natural selection
embark on in 1989 , when same - gender union was stick in , mortality rates among gays and lesbian who got married have decline . As of 2011 , human being in same - sex marriages were only 1.4 times more likely to expire during the sketch menstruum than men in opposite - sex marriages , a phone number lower than unmarried or divorced men . [ 5 Myths About Gay People Debunked ]
Part of the fatality rate drop likely has to do with the development of antiretroviral therapy to treatHIV and AIDS , Fisch said . The syndrome affect gay military personnel disproportionately , but drug therapy have been useable since 1995 and 1996 . As a result , sunny gentleman went from the grouping with the highest mortality rates to the chemical group with the second - gloomy , behind only man married to adult female .
Married lesbian also saw their mortality rate charge per unit decline between 1989 and 2011 , Frisch said , but not as dramatically .
" Since the year 2000 , same - sex get married Danish lesbian have had death rate rates that are almost 90 percent higher than opposite - sexuality women in Denmark , " he said . Their death rate rate may even be increasing , he sum up .
Based on data about causes of death , the researcher reckon that an increase suicide peril among Danish tribade excuse a large part of their mortality rate stave . Married lesbians were more than six times more potential tocommit suicidethan married straight charwoman . They were also at a 60 percent increased risk of infection of death from cancer , for reason not yet understood .
On one hired hand , the sketch reveal that mortality rates are not needs elevated in jolly military man , despite many studies finding disproportionate strong-arm and genial wellness struggles among this group ( often associated with social mark ) . Marriage may protect against the societal challenges of being braw , or healthier gay human may be more potential to put down marriages .
On the other script , Frisch state , the data suggest thatmen and woman who are gaystill struggle more than their square counterparts . Both same - sex activity - married men and woman had elevated suicide rates over straight - marry distich , he say .
" It is crucial now to distinguish those agent that make more homosexuals than straight vulnerable to life ’s challenges to such an extent that suicide may appear to be the only path out , " Frisch say .
The researcher account their findings online today ( March 11 ) in the International Journal of Epidemiology .
