More than 1,000 people a year, many young women, are falling victim to stress-related heart attacks, new resarch suggests.

The British study shows that the condition - which is unusual because it mainly occurs in those without obvious risks of heart disease - is causing hundreds of hospitalisations each year, with at least 100 deaths.

Researchers said women were most at risk from the condition, which has been linked to emotional stress caused by events such as death in the famiily as well as the exertion of extreme exercise, pregnancy or labour.

While the average age of victims was found to be 52, around 30 per cent of cases involved women who were nearing the end of a pregnancy or had recently given birth.

The research, carried out by cardiologists at Aston Medical School, Aston University in Birmingham, UK and the University of Alberta, Edmonton, Canada is the first major study to establish incidence of Spontaneous Coronary Artery Dissection, or SCAD.