Broken heart 'really can be bad for your health'

1. Rows with a spouse and bad news about a loved one can all bring on the condition, which doctors have dubbed "broken heart syndrome".Researchers at the The Miriam Hospital and Brown University both in Rhode Island, identified 70 patients with the illness between 2004 and 2008.They found that two thirds had suffered extreme emotional or physical stress immediately before their symptoms appeared. These ranged from domestic disagreements, upsetting information about a family member, to physical illness or even a car accident.All arrived at the hospital with symptoms similar to those experienced by heart attack victims, including chest pain and shortness of breath. One in five were critically ill and needed emergency treatment to keep them alive.But doctors found that the patients did not suffer the long-term damage to the muscle associated with a real heart attack.
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3. After treatment, all of the patients, almost all women who had already gone through the menopause, made a full recovery. "It can be difficult for cardiologists and physicians to diagnose and manage patients with broken heart syndrome," said Dr Richard Regnante, who led the study."Although there is much we're still learning about broken heart syndrome, we do know that it is rarely fatal as long as patients are fully supported with medications, respirators and other critical devices in the first 48 hours."Experts believe that the syndrome can be sparked by a rush of stress hormones to the heart causing it to weaken or even appear "stunned". The study also showed that the syndrome was more common in spring and summer, whereas real heart attacks are more frequent in winter, although the team said that they did not know why.The report, published in the American Journal of Cardiology, follows research by Japanese doctors who first described broken heart syndrome in the early 1990s.