Study shows link between gloomy marital relation and increased Heart Attack risk

Two different studies related to Heart Attacks or Cardiac Arrest have been published recently. One has found that Women are less likely to suffer from heart attacks but another fact is that they are also more prone to die from it. The other has revealed the connection between gloomy marital relations and cardiovascular disease risk.

A study by the Heart Foundation has found that women are often let down by their doctors and are seldom recommended for cardiac rehabilitation. Women who suffer from heart attacks are less likely to be counseled by doctors about their medication or their present state of their health. They are also never properly educated about recovery.

In March, one study had claimed that unmarried women are more likely to die from heart disease, while another study from NYU Langone Medical Center in New York, NY, linked marriage to a reduced risk of cardiovascular disease (CVD).

Study author Thomas Kamarck, professor of psychology at the University of Pittsburgh Kenneth P. Dietrich School of Arts and Sciences, said that there are evidence to show that the quality and patterns of social relationships are linked to several health results.

“Growing evidence suggests that the quality and patterns of one’s social relationships may be linked with a variety of health outcomes, including heart disease,” said Dr. Thomas Kamarck, professor of psychology and Biological and Health Program Chair at the University of Pittsburgh.

Karmack’s new study correlates unhappy marital interaction with thicker carotid arteries and a higher risk of cardiovascular disease.

“The contribution of this study is in showing that these sorts of links may be observed even during the earliest stages of plaque development [in the carotid artery],” Kamarck continues, “and that these observations may be rooted not just in the way that we evaluate our relationships in general but in the quality of specific social interactions with our partners as they unfold during our daily lives.”

The study included 281 healthy, employed, middle-aged adults who were married or living with a partner in a marital-like relationship. Their interactions were monitored hourly over the course of four days, with the partners rating their interactions as positive or negative.

Carotid artery thickness was also measured. Those partners reporting more negative interactions were found to have thicker carotids.

Joseph said these associations could not be accounted for by other behavioral or biological risk factors and were also independent of marital interaction frequency, nonmarital social interaction, or personality factors. The findings were consistent across age, sex, race, and education level.

Each year more than 36000 men and 19000 women are admitted in hospitals with heart attacks. Of these, 4500 women die from heart attacks as compared to 4700 men. Death due to heart attacks in women is much higher than breast cancer which kills 2900 women annually.

According to Heart Foundation’s women’s health spokeswoman Julie Anne Mitchell, women are more likely to die from second heart attack as compared to men. The primary cause of this is the lack of attention from doctors and paucity of proper tutorage about how to manage cardiac conditions after a heart attack.

There is better awareness about breast cancer than heart attack. She is urging all women to pay attention to signs of impending incidence of heart attack. She also recommends all women to go for regular visits to a cardiologist to ascertain the condition of their heart.

Ms. Mitchell said, “Women are less likely to experience central chest pain and are more likely to have pain in the arm, the jaw or their back between the shoulder blades or an overwhelming sense of fatigue or nausea.”

The bias against women starts right from the research stage since most of the researches are male focused and then simply extrapolated to women. The symptoms of heart attack are also felt differently in women as compared to men. A woman is less likely to recognize the symptoms of a heart attack as compared to men.