According to a study published in the journal Circulation: Cardiovascular Quality and Outcomes, women who have been divorced once are more likely to suffer from a heart attack than women who are continuously married, Reuters reported.
The study found that women who divorced once were 25 percent more likely to suffer from a heart attack and women who divorced more than once were 77 percent more likely to suffer from a heart attack, compared to women who stayed married. Duke University researchers said that men experienced a rise in risk after multiple divorces.
According to the study's lead author Matthew Dupre, this is the first study to demonstrate that lifetime exposure to divorce can have a long-term effect on an individual's cardiovascular health, especially in women. Dupre further said that the risks of heart attack related to marital loss are same to what they found for loss of job and show how the social world can hurt one's heart.
Scientists examined data on more than 15,000 people aged between 45 and 80 years who had been married at least once. They interviewed participants every two years from 1992 to 2010 about their health and marital status. During the 18-year study, about one-third of subjects had been divorced at least once.
While men are usually at increased risk for heart attack, it seems women fared worse than men post divorce. However, the differences were not statistically important. It was found that men who had been divorced experienced about the same risk as men who stayed married. The risk for men went up only after two or more divorces.
According to WebMD, people who were divorced or widowed were 20 percent more likely to suffer from cancer, diabetes or other chronic conditions.