Study Spotlights Value of Social Support

Study Spotlights Value of Social Support

     NEW YORK — Living alone after a heart attack is associated with a higher risk of death over the next four years, while a lack of support at home was also linked to a lower quality of life just one year after the attack, according to a study.

     While the risk of death one year after a heart attack was about the same among people who lived alone and those who lived with others, after four years the risk of death was about 35 percent higher for people living by themselves, the study in the American Journal of Cardiology said. “Social support should be an important consideration after a heart attack,” said Emily Bucholz, lead research for the study and a student at the Yale School of Medicine