Divorce may increase risk for heart attack (acute myocardial infarction)

[MeSci]

I can't access the full text so can't ascertain the possibility of confounding factors or reverse causation, e.g. people with difficulty forming/sustaining good marriages also being prone to other risk factors for myocardial infarct, or existing stress (due to other factors) contributing to the breakdown of marriages, etc.

But I am open to the possibility that emotional stress can increase the risk for some illnesses.

Association Between Divorce and Risks for Acute Myocardial Infarction

Matthew E. Dupre, PhD,
Linda K. George, PhD,
Guangya Liu, PhD and
Eric D. Peterson, MD, MPH

From the Duke Clinical Research Institute (M.E.D., E.D.P.), Department of Community and Family Medicine (M.E.D.), Department of Sociology (M.E.D., L.K.G.), Duke Law School (G.L.), and Division of Cardiology, Department of Medicine, Duke University Medical Center (E.D.P.), Duke University, Durham, NC.

Correspondence to Matthew E. Dupre, PhD, Duke Clinical Research Institute, 2400 Pratt St, Room 7461, Terrace Level, Durham, NC 27705. E-mail matthew.dupre{at}dm.duke.edu

Abstract
Background—Divorce is a major life stressor that can have economic, emotional, and physical health consequences. However, the cumulative association between divorce and risks for acute myocardial infarction (AMI) is unknown. This study investigated the association between lifetime exposure to divorce and the incidence of AMI in US adults.

Methods and Results—We used nationally representative data from a prospective cohort of ever-married adults aged 45 to 80 years (n=15 827) who were followed biennially from 1992 to 2010. Approximately 14% of men and 19% of women were divorced at baseline and more than one third of the cohort had ≥1 divorce in their lifetime. In 200 524 person-years of follow-up, 8% (n=1211) of the cohort had an AMI and age-specific rates of AMI were consistently higher in those who were divorced compared with those who were continuously married (P<0.05). Results from competing-risk hazard models showed that AMI risks were significantly higher in women who had 1 divorce (hazard ratio, 1.24; 95% confidence interval, 1.01–1.55), ≥2 divorces (hazard ratio, 1.77; 95% confidence interval, 1.30–2.41), and among the remarried (hazard ratio, 1.35; 95% confidence interval, 1.07–1.70) compared with continuously married women after adjusting for multiple risk factors. Multivariable-adjusted risks were elevated only in men with a history of ≥2 divorces (hazard ratio, 1.30; 95% confidence interval, 1.02–1.66) compared with continuously married men. Men who remarried had no significant risk for AMI. Interaction terms for sex were not statistically significant.

Conclusions—Divorce is a significant risk factor for AMI. The risks associated with multiple divorces are especially high in women and are not reduced with remarriage.

Physician's First Watch say:

After a divorce, people have an increased lifetime risk for myocardial infarction, according to a prospective study in Circulation: Cardiovascular Quality and Outcomes.

Some 16,000 U.S. adults who were married at some point in their lives were followed from 1992 to 2010. Over a third had at least one divorce in their lifetime, and these people were more likely to experience an acute MI during follow-up compared with those who were continuously married. The increased risk was not explained by other social, psychological, or physiological factors that have been shown to influence MI.

The findings were different for men and women. Men who divorced and remarried did not have an increased MI risk, but remarried women had an increased risk comparable with women who remained divorced. Among women, multiple divorces conferred an increased risk similar to that of established MI risk factors like smoking, diabetes, and hypertension.

The authors write: "We suspect that the acute and chronic stress associated with divorce may have played an important role in our findings."

 

[adreno]

Another reason not to get married.

 

[svetoslav80]

In some cases divorce can actually make you live longer.

 

[PeterPositive]

In some cases divorce can actually make you live longer.

Eheh, you took words out of my mouth

 

[barbc56]

The findings were different for men and women. Men who divorced and remarried did not have an increased MI risk, but remarried women had an increased risk comparable with women who remained divorced

.
My translation: Men STILL depend upon women to do work they should learn how to do themselves!

Barb

 

[Dreambirdie]

It all depends on the man, the woman, and the quality of the relationship. If you share the same values, know how to communicate with and listen to each other, and how to own your own buttons when they get pushed, that is a good place to start having a healthy relationship.

 

[barbc56]

It all depends on the man, the woman, and the quality of the relationship. If you share the same values, know how to communicate with and listen to each other, and how to own your own buttons when they get pushed, that is a good place to start having a healthy relationship.

Yup!

But you have to wonder about the validity of a study like this as there are so many factors that make up a relationship as well as many circumstances and reasons for divorce.

Barb