Jun 07, 2025 18:00:00

Men are twice as likely to die from 'broken heart syndrome,' a condition where stress directly attacks the heart, than women

Heartbreak refers to the pain felt from sadness such as a broken heart, but it has been scientifically proven that in some cases, mental stress can literally damage the heart and even cause death. A new study has found that men are more than twice as likely to die from a sudden heart attack, commonly known as '

broken heart syndrome ' overseas and technically known as 'takotsubo cardiomyopathy,' compared to women.

High Mortality and Complications in Patients Admitted With Takotsubo Cardiomyopathy With More Than Double Mortality in Men Without Improvement in Outcome Over the Years | Journal of the American Heart Association
https://www.ahajournals.org/doi/10.1161/JAHA.124.037219

Men Are Dying From 'Broken Heart Syndrome' at Twice The Rate of Women : ScienceAlert
https://www.sciencealert.com/men-are-dying-from-broken-heart-syndrome-at-twice-the-rate-of-women

Takotsubo cardiomyopathy is a reversible dysfunction that occurs in the left ventricle of the heart. The prognosis is generally good and the disease often heals naturally, but little is known about the course of the disease after recovery or its complications.

To clarify the incidence of takotsubo cardiomyopathy and associated cardiovascular complications, a research group from the University of Arizona analyzed data from 199,890 adult takotsubo cardiomyopathy patients reported in the United States from 2016 to 2020.

The analysis found that 83% of patients with Takotsubo cardiomyopathy were women, the overall mortality rate was 6.5%, and this mortality rate has shown little improvement over the time period analyzed.

The incidence of complications was also severe, with

cardiogenic shock in 6.6% of cases, atrial fibrillation in 20.7% of cases, cardiac arrest in 3.4% of cases, congestive heart failure in 35.9% of cases, and stroke in 5.3% of cases.

'We were surprised to see that the mortality rate from Takotsubo cardiomyopathy remained relatively high despite no significant change over the five-year study period, while the incidence of hospital complications actually increased,' said Mohammad Reza Movahed, a cardiologist at the University of Arizona and lead author of the study.

While most patients were women, the mortality risk was significantly higher in men (11.2% vs. 5.5% for women), as shown in the graph below, which shows the mortality rates for men (blue line) and women (red line).

The reason why men have a higher risk of dying from takotsubo cardiomyopathy is not fully understood, but while women are more likely to suffer from takotsubo cardiomyopathy due to psychological stress, men are more likely to suffer from takotsubo cardiomyopathy due to physical stress, and are also at a higher risk of cardiac arrest. The research group speculates that this tendency specific to men with takotsubo cardiomyopathy may be linked to the higher mortality rate.

It is also believed that the mechanism behind the development of Takotsubo cardiomyopathy is related to a hormone called catecholamine , and it has been pointed out that higher levels of this hormone in men is an important factor.

'It is worrying that the mortality rate remains high and further research is needed to find better treatments and new cures for this disease,' Movahed said.