title: Does the association between broken partnership and first time myocardial infarction vary with time after break-up?
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Marriage is associated with lower risk of coronary heart disease, but it is unknown if the association depends on time since break-up with a partner. In this study we included both married and unmarried couples to study if the association between broken partnership (BP) and first time incident myocardial infarction (MI) changes with time since BP.
  
  
  METHODS
  Register study of the entire Danish population: the population was restricted to those aged 30 to 65 years with follow-up for incident MI between 1985 and 2006 with an annual record on each individual; in total 43 million records. The register data were used to identify MI events. Poisson regression was used to study associations between time since BP and MI adjusted for socio-demographic confounders and hospital admissions. Analyses were stratified by sex.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Compared with unexposed (no BP), the incidence rate ratio (IRR) of MI in men with BP in the same year was 0.97 [95% confidence interval (CI) 0.90-1.05], year before BP was 1.25 (95% CI 1.17-1.34), 2-3 years after BP was 1.12 (95% CI 1.06-1.18), 4-8 years after BP was 1.09 (95% CI 1.05-1.14) and 9+ years since BP was 1.09 (95% CI 1.05-1.12). In women, the IRR same year as BP was 1.45 (95% CI 1.26-1.66), the year after BP was 1.30 (95% CI 1.14-1.50), 2-3 years after BP was 1.26 (95% CI 1.13-1.39), 4-8 years after BP was 1.17 (95% CI 1.08-1.26) and 9+ years since BP was 1.24 (95% CI 1.17-1.32).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  We found both a short-term elevated risk of first time MI following BP and a weaker long-term elevated risk, in both men and women.
authors.affiliation: Department of Public Health, University of Copenhagen, Copenhagen, Denmark and Glostrup University Hospital, Copenhagen, Denmark.
authors.forename: Margit
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Kriegbaum
authors.forename: Ulla
authors.initials: U
authors.lastname: Christensen
authors.forename: Per Kragh
authors.initials: PK
authors.lastname: Andersen
authors.forename: Merete
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Osler
authors.forename: Rikke
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Lund
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D016022:Case-Control Studies; D003718:Denmark / Q000453:epidemiology; D004243:Divorce / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008016:Life Change Events; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009203:Myocardial Infarction / Q000453:epidemiology*; D012044:Regression Analysis; D018454:Spouses / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D013997:Time Factors
keywords: Life events; Myocardial infarction; cohabitation