Broken heart syndrome on the rise

NEW YORK (HealthDay News)—“Broken heart syndrome” sounds like a romantic, fairy-tale notion: the idea that suffering a devastating loss can cause the heart to shrivel.

But this syndrome, formerly known as Takotsubo cardiomyopathy, remains associated with a high rate of death and illness, researchers reported in the Journal of the American Heart Association.

Just under seven percent of people with broken heart syndrome died between 2016 and 2020, researchers found.

That's nearly three times higher than the mortality rate of more than 2 percent among people without Takotsubo cardiomyopathy, the study found.

Broken heart syndrome is especially hard on men, although 83% of those who develop the disorder were found to be women.

Men had more than double the rate of death from broken heart syndrome, at 11 percent, compared to just over 5 percent in women.

“We were surprised to find that the mortality rate from Takotsubo cardiomyopathy was relatively high, with no significant changes over the five-year study, and the rate of in-hospital complications was also high,” said lead researcher Mohammad Reza Movahed, an interventional cardiologist and professor of medicine at the University of Arizona Sarver Heart Center in Tucson.

“The continued high mortality rate is alarming, suggesting that more research be conducted to improve treatment and find new therapeutic approaches for this condition,” he added.

Takotsubo cardiomyopathy is thought to be a reaction to an increase in stress hormones caused by an emotionally or physically stressful event, such as the death of a loved one or a divorce.

Part of the heart temporarily enlarges and becomes unable to pump well, increasing the risk of short-term heart failure and heart-related death.

In the new study, researchers used U.S. hospital records to track Takotsubo cardiomyopathy diagnoses.

They found that cases increased slightly, from 39,015 in 2016 to 41,290 in 2020. Common major complications of the syndrome include congestive heart failure (36%), atrial fibrillation (21%), cardiogenic shock (7%), stroke (5%), and cardiac arrest (3%), the study found.

Overall, Takotsubo patients were 12.7 times more likely to experience cardiogenic shock, 4.8 times more likely to experience cardiac arrest, 3.5 times more likely to develop heart failure, twice as likely to experience stroke, and 43 percent more likely to develop atrial fibrillation.

People over 61 had the highest rates of broken heart syndrome, the researchers noted. However, there was up to three times the risk among people ages 46 to 60 compared to those ages 31 to 45.

“Takotsubo cardiomyopathy is a serious condition with a substantial risk of death and serious complications,” Movahed said. “These patients should be monitored for serious complications and treated promptly.”

More research is needed to find the best ways to treat people suffering from broken heart syndrome.