A new study highlights that men hospitalized with "broken heart syndrome"—aka takotsubo cardiomyopathy—die at more than twice the rate of women, despite women being more frequently diagnosed with the condition. Using data from almost 200,000 US patients between 2016 and 2020, researchers found that 11% of men hospitalized with the syndrome died, versus about 5% of women, per NBC News. The syndrome is triggered by intense emotional or physical stress, such as bereavement or medical emergencies, which causes the heart to struggle to pump properly.
Most patients recover, but a minority develop more severe complications. Cardiologists say the outcomes may differ because men typically experience the syndrome after a physical trigger—like surgery or a stroke—while women's cases are more often prompted by emotional stressors. "The people with emotional stressors actually do quite well," said Dr. Ilan Wittstein of Johns Hopkins Medicine, who wasn't part of the research. Dr. Mohammad Movahed, lead author of the study published in the Journal of the American Heart Association, added that men often have less social support to help cope with stress, potentially making their recovery harder.
Despite the growing body of research, the exact mechanisms behind broken heart syndrome remain murky. While stress is a primary trigger, susceptibility may be increased by underlying health issues like high blood pressure or high cholesterol. Post-menopausal women are also more prone, possibly due to lower estrogen levels, though this connection isn't fully established.
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Prevention and treatment options are limited. Doctors may prescribe heart medications or suggest stress-reduction techniques, but no specific therapy has been shown to reliably reduce complications. Cardiologists encourage anyone experiencing chest pain or shortness of breath to seek immediate medical attention, as distinguishing broken heart syndrome from a traditional heart attack requires hospital testing. "The continued high death rate is alarming, suggesting that more research be done for better treatment and finding new therapeutic approaches to this condition," Movahed says in a release. (This content was created with the help of AI. Read our AI policy.)
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