Why divorce can raise heart risk

MARRIED people who have had a heart attack are more likely to survive another or a stroke than divorcees, research suggests.

Researchers tracked more than 29,000 patients in Sweden, aged 40 to 76, for four years after they had a heart attack.

Divorcees were 18 per cent more likely to have another, or a stroke or die from heart disease, said Dr Joel Ohm, of the Karolinska Institute. He said the findings would help doctors target care on certain groups.

Some 200,000 people a year in the UK have a heart attack, of whom 70,000 die. A quarter of survivors have another in five years.