Gaby
It may sound poetic, but people really can die of a broken heart. There’s strong evidence to support this. Broken heart syndrome can be triggered by both physical and emotional stress, and, as a team of researchers from the University of Arizona found, it poses a greater risk for men.
Losing a partner—whether through a breakup, a bitter divorce, or the death of a loved one—is traumatic for most people. In some cases, the heartache from that loss can cause real health problems, such as chest pain and shortness of breath. While most of us bounce back relatively quickly from life’s tragedies, for some people broken heart syndrome can be fatal. And within this group, men are twice as likely to be affected as women.
This condition, officially known as takotsubo cardiomyopathy, usually follows extreme emotional stress. It can also be triggered by physical stressors, such as surgery or a stroke.
When the body faces sudden stress, it releases a flood of hormones like cortisol and adrenaline. Those hormones put intense strain on the heart, causing its main pumping chamber to change shape—ballooning into a form that resembles a Japanese octopus trap called a takotsubo, which is where the name comes from. That change disrupts the heart’s normal function, as reported by IFLScience.
Previous studies suggested that women experience broken heart syndrome more often than men, and that many patients recover quickly. But recent findings show that’s not always the case.
What Did the Scientists Discover?
To learn more about the condition’s progression, the research team analyzed data from nearly 200,000 adult Americans hospitalized with takotsubo cardiomyopathy between 2016 and 2020.
Initially, the researchers confirmed that women make up 83 percent of cases. But the analysis also revealed a previously unknown age-related trend.
“It has been previously found that the incidence of takotsubo cardiomyopathy increases with age and typically occurs after a stressful situation, whether emotional or physical. Our study showed a sharp increase in incidence among the age group of 46 to 60 compared to those aged 31 to 45, with the older group experiencing rates 2.6 to 3.25 times higher,” the researchers wrote in their report.
The authors say the sudden rise may reflect a combination of factors, such as stress levels, hormonal changes, fluctuations in alcohol use, smoking, or poor management of conditions like hypertension and hyperlipidemia.
The team added, “This new age-related finding has important clinical implications. It could serve as a useful tool for distinguishing acute coronary syndrome from takotsubo cardiomyopathy, aiding in early diagnosis among older adults.”
But perhaps the most surprising result of the study was that men are twice as likely to die from takotsubo cardiomyopathy as women. The reasons for this remain unclear and may relate to the common triggers that lead to the condition in many men.
Dr. Mohammad Movahhed, the study’s lead author, suggested men may have a harder recovery because they often lack the social support that helps people cope with sudden stress.
The team believes more research on broken heart syndrome is needed to confirm these findings and to develop effective treatment strategies for patients.
The study appears in the Journal of the American Heart Association.
