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It's well-known that stress and heart attacks are linked, but it's not clear whether any particular kind of stress carries a greater risk for heart health. Now, new research suggests that for women, money problems may be at the top of the list.

Using data from the Women's Health Study, a long-term survey that followed participants for an average of nine years, the researchers analyzed the stressful experiences of 267 women, whose average age was 56, who had suffered a heart attack sometime over the study period. For comparison, they also examined 281 women with similar risk factors, like age and smoking habits, who did not experience heart attack. At the beginning of the survey, the women had provided information about stressful life events — such as incurring an injury, losing a job or discovering a spouse was unfaithful — that had taken place within the past five years. Of the items on the survey, three were classified as "traumatic": a life-threatening illness, a serious assault or the death of a child or spouse.

It turned out that financial problems doubled women's risk of having a heart attack, and that women making less than $50,000 per year were especially susceptible to the effects of stressful events across the board. Experiencing a traumatic life event also increased the risk of heart attack by 65 percent, regardless of women's income, the study found.