A Hearty Life

Divorce and Heart Disease

by Hsien-Hsien Lei, PhD on August 7th, 2006

In a study that’s sure to cause consternation amongst divorced women (and possibly the men they marry after divorce), researchers have found that women have a higher risk of heart disease after divorce as compared to those who stay married.

• Women who divorce are 60 per cent more likely to develop heart disease in later life than those who remain in a married relationship.
• Even those who remarry are still more likely to have adverse health consequences.
• 11.6 per cent of divorced women and 10.7 per cent of remarried women had heart disease, compared to 8.7 per cent of continuously married women.
• At 51, 10.9 per cent of divorcees and 9.8 per cent of remarried women had heart disease, compared to 7.3 per cent of women who remained married.
• Nine years later, by the age of 60, 33 per cent of divorced women and 31 per cent of remarried women had cardiovascular problems, compared to just 22 per cent of those who were married and had not suffered a break-up.
• Men do not experience the same increase in heart disease risk.

Not having had the chance to review the study, I’d have to question the validity of such findings. A better comparison would have been to compare the same women to themselves. For example, their heart disease condition prior to getting divorced vs. later. Comparing divorced women to different women who remained in marriages wouldn’t work when the marital circumstances are completely different. Some women get divorced because of physical and mental abuse which would definitely contribute to their risk of heart disease and other health problems.

More amusingly, The Daily Mail mentions Heather Mills, who’s currently divorcing from former Beatle Paul McCartney.

The study will come as a further blow to thousands of women, such as Heather Mills, currently going through stressful separations form their partners.

Earlier this week Miss Mills revealed she had felt ‘abandoned’ following the breakdown of her relationship with ex-Beatle Sir Paul McCartney. She said: ‘It’s like a physical pain. It just goes on and on.”

Well, yes, of course emotional pain is “like” physical pain and, in fact, endures much longer. And there is a mind-body connection. But I suspect that some women are better for divorce and I hope nobody tries to use this evidence to argue that women should reconsider a bad marriage.

Share This

Related Stories

Hearty Habits #9: Reduce Stress
Top 10 Sources for Heart Disease
New York Times Video on Women and Heart Disease
Heart Disease Gene: GATA2
Coronary Artery Disease and Colon Cancer

POSTED IN: Heart Conditions, Heart Disease in Women, Hearty Info