Single men or those leading an unhappy married life have a greater risk of deadly stroke, according to the Israeli Ischemic Heart Disease Study that started in 1963. This study was based on a survey of 10,059 civil servants and municipal workers.

Among the men single in the year of 1963, 8.4% died of stroke in the following 34 years, compared to the 7.1% of the married men.

"The findings are very consistent with what we're seeing in the U. S. The study demonstrates the benefit of having a partner or somebody that's there that can be supportive", said Daniel Lackland, Dr. PH, MSPH, of the Medical University of South Carolina in Charleston.

In the analysis, 3.6% of men who were dissatisfied with their marriage were able to adjust with the risk of a fatal stroke and the adjustment rate was 64% higher, compared with men who considered their marriages very successful.

"I had not expected that unsuccessful marriage would be of this statistical importance", said Goldbourt, a professor of epidemiology and preventive medicine at Tel Aviv University in Israel.