LONDON (Reuters) - Married couples share more than their homes, cars and finances--they are also likely to have some of the same diseases, experts say.

If a spouse suffers from asthma, depression, peptic ulcers, high blood pressure or raised cholesterol levels, the chances are their partner will be afflicted with the same illness.

"Partners of people with specific diseases are at increased risk of the disease themselves--at least 70% increased risk for asthma, depression and peptic ulcer disease," Julia Hippisley Cox of the University of Nottingham, central England said Friday.

Cox and her team said the most likely reason for the shared diseases was environment. Married couples usually eat the same foods, are exposed to the same allergens and often have similar exercise patterns. These can contribute to ailments such as allergies, high blood pressure and raised cholesterol.

The British Heart Foundation said there was also likely to be a strong association with coronary heart disease (CHD), one of the biggest killers in industrialized countries.

"Sharing a home environment means that partners may well have similar diet, physical activity and smoking patterns so that if one develops CHD the other has a similar risk of developing the disease," said Belinda Linden, the head of medical information at the foundation.

Cox and her colleagues studied the medical history of 8,000 married couples, aged 30 to 74.

After adjusting for age, obesity and smoking status, which also have an impact on disease risk, they found that spouses whose partners had a certain illness had a higher risk than the general population of suffering from the same disease.

The scientists, whose findings are published in the British Medical Journal, believe screening spouses for some diseases should be considered.

"The findings could have implications for targeting screening or disease prevention measures at partners of participants with one of these diseases," Cox added.

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