Single people have at least one less thing to worry about than married couples but the benefits of the bachelor lifestyle fall short in a new study that reveals a life in singledom could be shorter.

Men who stay single could die between eight to 17 years before married men, while women who stay single could die seven to 15 years earlier than married women, researchers from the University of Louisville found.

The report published in the American Journal of Epidemiology used meta-analysis to examine 641 risk estimates in 95 publications that provided data on more than 500 million people.

Meta-regressions showed that while hazard ratios have been increasing for both genders over time they have been increasing more rapidly for women.

The researchers speculate that the reason is tied to poor health benefits as single people have less social support than couples, MSNBC reported.

If you're a couple, a spouse may be after you to eat better and go the doctor, he says. Sometimes it's just easier to be healthier and less of a risk taker when you're married. Though single people can get some of that same support from parents, siblings and friends, said the author of the study David Roelfs.

Age also plays as a factor in this study. The relative risk of death for singles aged 30 to 39-years-old was 128 percent greater than among married people of the same age, but decreased to about 16 percent for single 70-year-olds when compared to 70-year olds in wedlock.

The study does not take into account the impact of bad marriages.