June 26, 2025
Men’s Health Month (June) may be coming to an end, but a leading heart disease researcher at Simon Fraser University is sharing his personal story to keep men’s mental health awareness in the spotlight.
Shrinking social networks and depression are dangerous bedfellows that increase men’s risk of heart disease and suicide. Research shows men who experience social isolation are 70 per cent more likely to experience early death and divorced men have even higher death rates than married men, due, in part, to social isolation and loneliness.
“Men are three to four times more likely to die by suicide than women at any age. I was almost one of those statistics,” says Scott Lear, health sciences professor and Pfizer/Heart & Stroke Foundation Chair in Cardiovascular Prevention Research.
“After my separation and decades of not having the same type of social support as my wife, I found it hard to fill that void. I spent two and a half years on my own and it drove home how few, truly connected friends I had.”
Lear is available to speak about the intersection of social isolation, loneliness, depression and heart disease in men.
