Single people, and more widowed women, would be more likely to die of heart failure.
- 2.3% of the adult French population suffers from heart failure in France according to Health Insurance.
- According to INSEE, 43% of the French population is married.
Every year, more than 160,000 people are hospitalized because of heart failure and more than 70,000 die from it, according to theHealth Insurance. But would the majority of them be single? According to a study presented today at Heart Failure 2022a scientific congress of the European Society of Cardiology (ESC), people with heart failure who are not married have a lower chance of long-term survival than those who are married. In other words, they would be more likely to die from it.
A disease that requires treatment…
When patients are affected by heart failure, this means that their heart muscle can no longer perform its role of propelling blood through the body. This therefore has effects on many other organs which no longer have enough oxygen or nutrients to function properly.
At first, when a person has heart failure, they may not experience any symptoms. But, the evolution of this pathology is then manifested by fatigue, progressive shortness of breath (first during physical activities then in those of every day, and even at rest), palpitations, etc. Nevertheless, with appropriate care, it is possible to slow down the progression of heart failure.
… easier to follow when you are in a relationship
“Social support helps people manage certain long-term situationsexplains Fabian Kerwagen, one of the authors. Spouses can help with medication adherence, encourage and help patients adopt a healthier lifestyle, which can affect their longevity. In this study, single patients had fewer social interactions than married patients and lacked support to manage their heart failure. We wanted to know if these factors could also explain, in part, the link with survival.
To arrive at these results, the authors studied just over 1,000 patients hospitalized between 2004 and 2007 for heart failure. 633 were married and 375 were single, including 195 widowed, 96 never married and 84 separated or divorced. For all the others, the marital status was not specified.
Singles are more likely to die
Using self-report questionnaires completed by participants as part of monitoring their pathology, the researchers observed that single people had fewer social relationships and less support for monitoring their treatment than married people. . In contrast, there was no difference in quality of life or depressed mood.
The researchers followed the participants for about ten years. During this period, 679 died. According to the study, being single increased the risk of dying from cardiovascular disease but also from any cause. The patients with the highest risk compared to married people were widowers.
Identify single people to better support them
“The link between marriage and life expectancy shows the importance of social support for heart failure patients, a topic that has become even more relevant with social distancing during the pandemicconcludes Fabian Kerwagen. Healthcare professionals should consider asking patients for their marital status…and recommending heart failure support groups to fill these potential gaps.”
