Broken Heart Syndrome Is Real — And the Pandemic Is Making It Worse
New data suggests more people are developing the symptoms of a broken heart
Broken heart syndrome is on the rise.
That’s according to a new study in JAMA Network Open that found 7.8% of Cleveland Clinic patients presenting with symptoms of a heart attack in March and April had the condition, also known as Takotsubo cardiomyopathy — up from 1.7% prior to the coronavirus.
“It’s about a four- to five-time increase,” says Grant Reed, MD, MSc, the senior author of the study. “If you extrapolate that over an entire country, there’s going to be many more patients coming in with this.”
Takotsubo — which can feel like a heart attack — is known to strike people after the death of a child or spouse, hence the nickname “broken heart syndrome.” But people have also experienced stress-induced cardiomyopathy after surgery, public speaking, being held at gunpoint, the death of a pet, claustrophobia in an MRI machine, and even eating too much wasabi. Now, research suggests the stress of the pandemic is pushing some people’s hearts to the breaking point.
“This is obviously an unprecedented event that people are dealing with in very different and very personal ways,” Reed says. “People are losing…
