A large population-based study from Finland has shown that being
unmarried increases the risk of fatal and non-fatal heart
attacks in both men and women whatever their age. Conversely,
say the study investigators, especially among middle-aged
couples, being married and cohabiting are associated with
"considerably better prognosis of acute cardiac events both
before hospitalisation and after reaching the hospital alive".
The study, published yesterday in the European Journal of
Preventive Cardiology, was based on the FINAMI myocardial
infarction population-based register data from the years 1993 to
2002. The study included information on people over the age of
35 living in four geographical regions of Finland. All fatal and
non-fatal cardiac events — known as "acute cardiac syndromes"
(ACS) — were included and cross-referred to the population
database. "Our aim," said the authors, "was to study the
differences in the morbidity and prognosis of incident acute
coronary syndromes according to socio-demographic ch