The Journal of the American Medical Association July 2011
December 15th, 2011
WHO STUDIED IT?
Dr. Eitel in The Journal of the American Medical Association
WHAT WE NEED TO KNOW?
Stress is bad for the heart.
This study, recently published in JAMA, discovered that a heart muscle problem (called a cardiomyopathy) can occur purely because of emotional stress. The heart muscle is damaged by stress and can mimic findings of a heart attack.
Luckily, people usually get better after having this, which is given the name Takotsubo cardiomyopathy after the Japanese doctor who first described the condition.
This study found that it occurs much more frequently in women. Out of 256 patients diagnosed with stress cardiomyopathy, 81% were postmenopausal women, 8% were women younger than 50, and 11% were men, Ingo Eitel, MD, from the University of Leipzig−Heart Center, in Leipzig, Germany, and colleagues report in the July 20 issue of the Journal of the American Medical Association.
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