Marital Stress Worsens Prognosis in Women With Coronary Heart Disease

Results Among women who were married or cohabiting with a male partner (n=187), marital stress was associated with a 2.9-fold (95% confidence interval [CI], 1.3-6.5) increased risk of recurrent events after adjustment for age, estrogen status, education level, smoking, diagnosis at index event, diabetes mellitus, systolic blood pressure, smoking, triglyceride level, high-density lipoprotein cholesterol level, and left ventricular dysfunction. Among working women (n=200), work stress did not significantly predict recurrent coronary events (hazard ratio, 1.6; 95% CI, 0.8-3.3).