Guys start working on your marriage as a new study has claimed that men in an unhappy union are at a 64 per cent higher risk of a fatal stroke.

In a first study of its kind to assess the quality of a marriage and its association with stroke risk, researchers at the Tel Aviv University found a correlation between happiness in marriage and the likelihood that a man will die from stroke.

The team led by Prof Uri Goldbourt said that a happy marriage help to prevent fatal strokes in men, EurekAlert reported.

The research was based on the analysis of the data collected from 10,000 men, all of them civil servants, beginning in 1965.

In the retrospective study, men were surveyed about their happiness levels and marital status; 34 years later, a follow-up study determined how many of the men died from stroke.

According to the study, single men were found to have a 64 per cent higher risk of a fatal stroke than married men.

The quality of the marriage appeared to matter as well men in an unhappy union had a 64 per cent higher risk of a fatal stroke than those who reported being happy in their marriage.

"The association we've found adjusts for factors such as age, blood type and cholesterol levels," Prof Goldbourt said but cautioned that his results are only preliminary.

The team hopes that the research will be taken up by younger researchers as a foundational study. While many studies today report the benefits of marriage, the negative effects of an unhappy marriage may be hidden.