Broken heart syndrome ‘deadly as a heart attack’, say experts
Sinéad’s former partner says she died from grief
BROKEN heart syndrome can be just as deadly as a heart attack, researchers have warned.
The findings come after a former partner of Sinéad O’Connor insisted the singer died of a ‘broken heart’.
Her son Shane took his own life 18 months before the singer died. Officially, her death certificate states she died of natural causes.
Takotsubo cardiomyopathy – the medical name for broken heart syndrome – is triggered by extreme emotional distress that weakens one of the heart’s chambers.
Around a quarter of patients with the condition died over the course of a five-year study, based on almost 4,000 people in Scotland.
Experts said this was ‘comparable’ with heart attack deaths.
Analysis also showed that drugs used to prevent heart attacks did not improve the survival rate of takotsubo cardiomyopathy, despite being the go-to treatment.
Scientists based at the University of Aberdeen claimed the ‘stark’ data showed the syndrome was not being treated correctly.
The condition is a reaction by the heart to a sudden release of stress hormones.
This causes part of the heart to become temporarily enlarged and struggle to pump blood properly.
Researchers assessed the medical records of 3,720 people, including 620 who had takotsubo syndrome, between 2010 and 2017.
Over a follow-up of five-and-a-half-years, 153 patients with the condition died (25%), according to results published in the journal JACC: Advances.
This death rate is higher than the study’s control group (15%) and nearly as high as fatalities among those who suffered from heart attacks (31%).
The researchers said they were ‘surprised’ that takotsubo patients were medicated in the same way as patients with ‘classical heart attacks’. Professor Dana Dawson, a consultant cardiologist at Aberdeen Royal Infirmary, said the data shows ‘quite starkly’ that takotsubo cardiomyopathy is not being treated correctly.
She added: ‘These patients have increased mortality compared to the general population, an increased vulnerability to developing heart conditions, and as much chance of dying from this as people who have suffered heart attacks.
‘It is vital that we identify precise
‘It doesn’t make her passing less painful’
ways to treat this unique group of people, and that is what we plan to do as we continue our research.’
Experts have long believed takotsubo cardiomyopathy may be misdiagnosed as a heart attack because symptoms and test results are similar.
However, unlike with those who suffer heart attacks, broken heart syndrome is not linked with blocked arteries.
Takotsubo cardiomyopathy is more common among women than men and is more likely to affect older people, who are more likely to have lost their lifelong spouses.
It comes after Ms O’Connor’s former partner Dermot Hayes insisted the ruling that she died of natural causes actually means she died from a ‘broken heart’.
The singer, 56, was found ‘unresponsive’ after police were called to her flat in Herne Hill, southeast London, last July, just months after her 17-year-old son Shane died.
Detectives did not treat her sudden death as suspicious and on Tuesday officials said she had died of natural causes.
Mr Hayes, who dated Ms O’Connor for two years after writing an early autobiography of the singer, told The Irish Sun: ‘From this you can surmise that a broken heart is a real illness, symptom and a cause of death.
‘It doesn’t make Sinéad’s passing any less painful. It was more to do with a broken heart than anything else.’ Symptoms of the condition can appear similar to a heart attack, and include shortness of breath and chest pain.
Takotsubo cardiomyopathy is usually temporary and many people make a full recovery.
However, a 2017 study, suggested that the syndrome could in some cases permanently affect the heart’s pumping motion, delaying the twisting or ‘wringing’ movement made by the muscle during a heartbeat.