United States: After a traumatic experience such as divorce or the loss of a loved one, some people may have episodes of chest pain and shortness of breath – a condition known colloquially as “broken heart syndrome”.
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The syndrome (which is formally known to doctors as takotsubo cardiomyopathy) is supposed to be induced by physical and emotional stress, which causes outbursts of stress hormones such as adrenaline, stopping people’s hearts from contracting normally.
The majority of patients recover quite fast, but a portion become victims of heart failure.
While broken heart syndrome is more common in women, men die of it at more than twice the rate, according to a study published Wednesday in the Journal of the American Heart Association.
Analyzing data from almost 200,000 adults in the US who had been hospitalized with broken heart syndrome between the years 2016 and 2020, the study found that… About 11% of men in that group died, whereas approximately 5% of women died.
The figures support the previous research that identified higher death rates among men.
Men are more likely to die of 'broken heart syndrome,' study says
— Professor Erwin Loh (@erwinloh) May 14, 2025
The condition is usually brought on by the stress of an event like losing a loved one.
After a traumatic event like a divorce or the death of a loved one, some people may experience chest pain and shortness of… pic.twitter.com/xKol6WtVOF
According to Dr. Harmony Reynolds, director of the Sarah Ross Soter Center for Women’s Cardiovascular Research at NYU Langone Health, “It seems to be a consistent finding that men don’t get takotsubo syndrome as much, but when they do, they do worse,” NBC News reported.
The differences between men and women might have something to do with what is causing their conditions, cardiologists said.
In the case of men, the broken heart syndrome is most likely to be caused by a physical stressor like a surgery or a stroke.
As for women, it is usually emotional, such as losing a job or a loved one.
According to Dr. Ilan Wittstein, a cardiologist at Johns Hopkins Medicine, “The people with emotional stressors actually do quite well,” NBC reported.
“Men may be more at risk for dying and having bad outcomes because they’re less susceptible to begin with,” he added.
“So it takes a more dangerous trigger to precipitate the syndrome,” as he continued.
Social Support Plays a Key Role
According to the lead author of the study, Dr. Mohammad Movahed, men are also likely to have it rough in the recovery process of broken heart syndrome because they are known to have minimal social support to help them manage stress.
“If you have this stressful trigger, and the stress is not gone, that’s probably going to continue to harm the heart, or at least reduce the chance of recovery,” as per Movahed, who is a cardiologist at the University of Arizona’s Sarver Heart Center.
But scientists still have unanswered questions about what it is that is causing the syndrome and why people die of it in very rare circumstances.