Marriage may protect your ticker, scientists revealed. In a study of more than 3.5 million men and women, researchers from New York University’s Langone Medical Center found that married people have a significantly decreased risk of heart disease compared to people who are widowed, single or divorced, reports Fox News.

Though previous research has produced conflicting results on the influence of marriage on heart health, Dr. Carlos Alviar, an NYU Langone cardiology fellow, said this study is the largest of its kind and provides the most comprehensive look at the connection between relationship status and cardiovascular disease.

For their study, Alviar and his colleagues analyzed rates of four types of cardiovascular disease in people between the ages of 21 and 99. This included coronary artery disease, which is the most common form of heart disease and occurs when arteries leading to the heart become clogged, often causing a heart attack.

The researchers also studied cerebrovascular disease, which affects circulation of blood flow to the brain, abdominal aortic aneurysms, a form of aneurysm occurring below the chest usually due to hardened arteries, and peripheral artery disease, in which fatty plaque buildup decreases the flow of blood from the heart to the legs.

The results strongly pointed towards the idea that marriage can have a protective effect for heart health; overall, married people had a 5 percent decreased risk of cardiovascular disease compared to unmarried people.

Though their researchers did not examine why marriage impacts heart health, Alviar and his colleagues suspect married people may have better support systems.

“People who have a spouse might be more compliant with medical appointments, screening processes, more compliant with medications and a healthy lifestyle as opposed to people who are by themselves,” Alviar said. “And being alone also produces not only psychological stress but physical stress, and that might be a risk factor.”

“While people who were divorced had higher odds of any vascular disease, particularly aortic and cerebrovascular, people who were widowed had the highest odds for coronary and lower extremity disease,” Alviar noted.