A friend can mend a broken heart

James Meikle, health correspondent
Thursday April 15, 2004

Guardian

Love seems to help mend a broken heart. Having a really close relationship with another person, whether they be close friend, lover or relative, can halve the risk of suffering ongoing heart attacks, researchers suggest today.

Doctors in Manchester who monitored 600 people for a year after they suffered a heart attack found patients with someone they could confide in were only half as likely to have another heart attack as those with no one close to turn to.

The link remained after taking account of the severity of the original heart attack, the previous history of heart disease, and age.

Those without a close relationship were more likely to drink heavily, use illegal drugs, and to have had a previous heart attack, suggested the research, reported in the medical journal Heart. They were also more than twice as likely to have been separated from parents during childhood.

The screening of the patients, three-quarters of them men and with an average age of 60, included patients' assessments of their mental health before their heart attack as well as their personal histories.

About one in four of those screened had been depressed before their heart attack, but, in contrast to the findings of some previous research, they were no more likely to have another attack or die.

The authors speculate that the loss of parents early in life may reduce the chances of forming intimate relationships in adulthood.

"Alternatively, those who do not have a close confidant may delay seeking treatment for myocardial infarction [heart attack] or may be less likely to adhere to treatment afterwards," the authors say.

However, heart specialists should not ignore depression, they say. Other research had shown that depressed people were less likely to give up smoking after a heart attack.

The researchers, from Manchester royal infirmary and Manchester University's department of psychiatry, were supported by the Medical Research Council and the British Heart Foundation.

Belinda Linden, head of medical information at the BHF, which provided £160,000 for the study, said: "A close relationship, whether it be lover, friend or relative, is obviously a potentially vital source of social support, which can play an important role in both preventing coronary heart disease and enhancing recovery from attack."

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