Objectives To investigate the association between spouse weekly working hours (SWWH) and the predicted 10-year risk of cardiovascular disease (CVD).

Methods This cross-sectional study evaluated data for participants in the Korean National Health and Nutrition Examination Surveys (2007–2012). The data for 16,917 participants (8,330 husbands and 8,587 wives) were used for analysis. The participants’ clinical information was collected to estimate CVD risk prediction as well as weekly working hours. Multiple logistic regression was conducted to investigate the association between SWWH and the predicted 10-year risk for CVD. We also performed stratified analysis according to each participant’s and spouses employment status.

Results Compared with those whose wives worked less than 30 hours, the 10-year CVD risk was significantly higher for husbands whose wives worked more hours. After adjusting for covariates, the odds ratio for high risk for CVD was increased up to 1.95 as SWWH increased among husbands. However, we did not find a significant association between SWWH and high risk of CVD in wives. We also found that the association between SWWH and risk for CVD varied according to employment status.

Conclusions Wives’ long working hours can contribute to husbands’ development of CVD in future, but not vice versa.