Relationship status and respiratory diseases: an analysis on a general population sample

Background: Very few studies have examined whether marital/relationship status affects respiratory diseases. Objective: Assess the association of relationship status (Rstatus: domestic partnership/civil union/marriage, cohabitation with non-partners, being single) with current (CA) and past asthma (PA), allergic (AR) and non-allergic rhinitis (NAR), and chronic bronchitis (CB). Methods: Data were collected in the frame of GEIRD, a population-based, multicase-control survey. Among 2531 subjects (age 21–86, female 50%) who underwent standardized interviews, skin prick and lung function tests, 575 cases of CA, 268 cases of PA, 968 cases of AR, 462 cases of NAR, 265 cases of CB without airflow …