Does being married mean you live longer?

A new study says so. (Thanks Picture of Health for flagging the study.)

Single people die a decade earlier than married folks, according to the study published in the American Journal of Epidemiology. According to msnbc.com:

The researchers analyzed the data from some 90 previous studies, which included about 500 million people, and compared the risk of mortality for singles from those studies — defined as those who never married — to that of a married group, excluding those who are divorced or widowed.

The researchers found the risk of death was 32 percent higher across a lifetime for single men compared to married men. Single women face a 23 percent higher mortality risk, compared to married women.

Were you healthier as a single person? Has marriage made you healthier or in poorer health?