SYDNEY: People mourning the loss of a loved one are six times more likely to suffer cardiac arrest, potential proof that you can die of a broken heart, say Australian researchers.
According to an Australian Heart Foundation study of the physical changes suffered immediately after a profound loss, grieving people are at significantly higher risk of heart problems.
"We found higher blood pressure, increased heart rate and changes to immune system and clotting that would increase the risk of heart attack," said lead author Thomas Buckley a nurse and medical scientist at the University of Sydney.
Flood of stress hormones
The results were published in a recent edition of the Internal Medicine Journal and presented last month to a meeting of the Cardiac Society of Australia and New Zealand.
Of the 160 people studied, half were mourning the loss of a partner or child, and their risk of heart attack increased six-fold, Buckley said. The risk, which was evident in people as young as 30, reduced after six months and levelled out after two years.
A sudden flood of stress hormones, such as cortisol, is believed to be behind the grief-induced heartache, a condition that earlier studies have found is more likely to affect women.
Specific to grief
Buckley cautioned that these results should not be extended to acute life stressors, other than grief, since there is a degree of irreversibility in death, which may not factor in the other situations.
"The study certainly confirms both empirical research and the clinical experience of many bereavement practitioners," commented Christopher Hall, psychologist and director of the Australian Centre for Grief and Bereavement, in Melbourne. "The work is important because it challenges deeply embedded cultural notion that grief is a short-term emotional reaction."
"Bereavement is a health issue that really hasn't got enough attention. Its been seen as being like a flu, with short-term emotional symptoms rather than a serious mental health issue," he added.
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