Experts have identified more cases of a potentially fatal stress-induced heart condition known as "broken heart syndrome," particularly in older women, according to research cited by ABC News.
Technically known as Takotsubo cardiomyopathy, broken heart syndrome is a rare form of heart disease that occurs when the heart muscle is weakened. The condition is thought to be triggered by intense emotional or physical stress, with a sudden flood of hormones appearing to temporarily stun the heart into pumping less efficiently.
Experts at Cedars-Sinai in Los Angeles, Cleveland Clinic and Baltimore-based Johns Hopkins have each been tracking a recent uptick in cases. Data is still being collected, and long-term implications are uncertain. It's unclear what role, if any, the pandemic has played in the rising case numbers.
"Families are extremely stressed by deaths of loved ones, and by losing jobs and homes," C. Noel Bairey Merz, MD, director of the Barbra Streisand Women's Heart Center at Cedars-Sinai's Smidt Heart Institute, said in a news release. "Our own studies of Takotsubo syndrome indicate it was already on the rise before the COVID-19 pandemic, partly because it's better recognized than it used to be."
Over the last decade, cases have risen up to 10 times faster among middle-aged and older women than among younger women and men, according to Dr. Bairey Merz. One in five people who suffer from the condition have another attack within 10 years, she added.