On its website, ABC News reports, “Scientists have found new evidence that grief might actually break your heart.”
WebMD reports, “A person who is mourning the death of someone close is at greater risk of suffering a heart attack in the days immediately following the loss and for up to a month afterward,” according to a study published in Circulation.
HeartWire reports that investigators “conducted a case-crossover analysis of 1985 participants in the multicenter Determinants of Myocardial Infarction Onset Study (MIOS), who were hospitalized for an acute MI in 1989-1994.”
Participants’ “charts were reviewed and they were interviewed about the circumstances surrounding their heart attack while in hospital, including questions about whether they had lost someone significant in their lives in the past year.”
HealthDay reports that the researchers found that “within a day of a significant other’s death, heart attack risk was 21 times higher than normal.”
Additionally, the researchers reported that “within the first week after death, the heart attack risk for the bereaved was still six times greater than usual.”
The UK’s Telegraph also covers the story.