• Broken heart syndrome can occur after an emotional event, such as the death of a loved one.
• Scientists used to think heart damage was temporarily, but new research suggests disease can cause permanent damage.
• The study highlights the need to find a more effective treatment for the condition.
Heartbreak could be worse for your health than we realised. New research suggests the emotional impact of a loved one dying could do long-term damage to your heart.
We've written about broken heart syndrome before – it's a genuine condition once thought to cause temporary heart failure in people under severe stress, such as following the death of a loved one. But scientists have recently discovered that it's likely to cause more long-term damage to the organ.
Researchers from the University of Aberdeen used ultrasound and MRI scans to look at patients' hearts. The team discovered those who suffered from the syndrome had permanent heart damage including scarring.
Dr Dana Dawson who led the research said:
"We've shown that this disease has much longer lasting damaging effects. Recent students have shown that this disease is not as rare as we thought, so finding out the effect it has on suffers' hearts is increasingly important."
The condition affects more than 3000 people a year in the UK. Symptoms are similar to a heart attack, the syndrome mostly affects women and it is usually diagnosed in hospital.
Professor Metin Avkiran, associate medical director at the British Heart Foundation commented:
"This study has shown that in some patients who develop Takotsubo syndrome various aspects of heart function remain abnormal for up to four months afterwards. Worryingly, these patients' hearts appear to show a form of scarring, indicating that full recovery may take much longer, or indeed may not occur, with current care. This highlights the need to urgently find new and more effective treatments for this devastating condition."
