Divorcees’ heart risk

DIVORCEES are at a higher risk of dying after suffering a heart attack, a study has found.

Those who have split from partners are 16 per cent less likely to survive than those in marriages, according to data from one million patients.

They are also per cent more likely to die than single people who have never wed.

Researchers from Aston University in Birmingham warn that marriage breakdown delivers a ‘double hit’ of a stressful event followed by a life alone. Having a partner also encourages people to keep fit and take medication, they said.

The team, presenting their findings at the European Society of Cardiology Congress in Barcelona, tracked NHS patients for 13 years.

Around 200,000 suffer a heart attack each year in the UK, with 0,000 dying as a result.