The science of ‘broken hearts’

SCIENTISTS have made progress in piecing together why some people may die of a broken heart.

Suffering longer-term stress and then experiencing a stressful event such as the loss of a loved one - could trigger a condition known as takotsubo syndrome, also known as broken heart syndrome.

Symptoms often mimic a heart attack and include chest pain and shortness of breath.

It can cause a range of complications and affects around 2,500 people in the UK each year, mainly post-menopausal women. In some cases, it is fatal.

Broken heart syndrome often follows an intense event, such as loss, a life-threatening medical diagnosis, losing a lot of money, redundancy or a relationship breakdown.

New research funded by the British Heart Foundation (BHF) and published in the journal Cardiovascular Research found that two molecules linked to increased stress levels play a key role in the development of the syndrome. Experts from Imperial College London found that increased levels of micrornas

-16 and -26a (small molecules that regulate how genes are decoded) increase the chance of suffering the syndrome.