A new study by Duke University found that divorced women are more likely to suffer heart attacks than married women.

The researchers followed men and women from 1992 to 2010, and found significant negative effects of divorce and chronic stress.

About a third of the 15,827 observed divorced during the period, and the divorced females were 24 per cent more likely to have heart attacks than their married counterparts. The risk of heart attack for divorced men increased by only 10 per cent.

"This risk is comparable to that of high blood pressure or if you have diabetes, so it's right up there, it is pretty big," one researcher, Professor Linda George, explained.

Women who had multiple divorces were 77 per cent more likely to have heart attacks, while men with multiple ex-wives increased their risk by 30 per cent. And while the risk of heart attack reduced significantly for men when they remarried, there was only a minor decrease for remarried women.

"I think this is the most interesting bit in the paper," George told the BBC. "We joke around here and call it the 'any-women-will-do orientation' for men.

"They're more comfortable being married than not married and cope with different women being their spouses. First marriages are protective for women and it's a little dicey after that."

The reason for the disparity, according to George, is because women suffer a greater "psychological burden" following divorce.

"My educated speculation is that we know that psychological distress is a constant stress on the immune system, higher levels of inflammation and stress hormones increase," she said. "Immune function is altered for the worse and if that continues for many years it does take a physiological toll."

The British Heart Foundation said the study's conclusions— published in the journal Circulation— warrant further research before divorce can be considered a heart attack risk factor.