Increase in Broken-Heart syndrome through Covid-19 pandemic

Increase in Broken-Heart syndrome through Covid-19 pandemic

researchers of the Cleveland Clinic have found a significant increase in patients with stress cardiomyopathy, also known as syndrome of the broken heart, during the covid 19 pandemic.

stress cardiomyopathy occurs in response to physical or emotional stress and causes functional disorders or failure in the heart muscle. In patients, symptoms typically occur that are similar to a heart attack, such as chest pain and shortness of breath, but they usually do not have acute coronary arteries. However, the left ventricle of the heart can have an enlargement. Other symptoms are irregular heartbeat, fainting, low blood pressure and cardiogenic shock (an inability of the heart to pump enough blood due to the influence of stress hormones on the cells of the heart to meet the requirements of the body).

The Covid 19 pandemic has stressed people's lives on several levels

"Covid 19 pandemic has led to several stress in the life of people all over the country and all over the world. People not only worry about themselves or their families, but also deal with economic and emotional problems, social problems and potential loneliness," said Dr. Ankur Karra, cardiologist at the Cleveland Clinic in the areas of invasive and interventional cardiology and regional cardiovascular medicine, which led the study. "The stress can have physical effects on our body and our heart, as the increasing diagnosis of stress cardiomyopathy shows."

The causes of stress cardiomyopathy

The causes of stress cardiomyopathy, also known as takotso-treatiomyopathy, are not fully clarified. However, doctors believe that the reaction of a person to physically or emotionally stressful events causes a release of stress hormones that temporarily reduce the pumping ability of the heart - which leads to the fact that it contracts less efficiently or irregularly instead of in an even, normal pattern.

cardiologists examined 258 patients for this study

Cardiologists examined 258 patients for the study between March 1 and April 30th in the Clinic and Cleveland Clinic Akron General, with heart symptoms, which are known as acute coronary syndrome (ACS), and compared them with four control groups of ACS patients before the pandemic. They found a significant increase in patients in whom stress cardiomyopathy was diagnosed, and reached 7.8% compared to a precedence of 1.7%. Patients with stress cardiomyopathy during Covid 19 pandemic had a longer hospital stay than patients who were hospitalized in the period before pandemic. However, there was no significant difference in mortality between the groups. All patients in whom stress cardiomyopathy was diagnosed were negatively tested for Covid-19.

This study was published in the Jama Network Open

"While pandemic is developing, self -sufficiency in this difficult time is crucial for our heart health and our general health," said Dr. Grant Reed, M.Sc., Director of the Stemi (St-elevation Myocardial Infarction) The Cleveland Clinic) program and senior author for the study. "For those who feel overwhelmed by stress, it is important to contact your doctor. Movement, meditation and contact with family and friends can also help alleviate anxiety while maintaining the physical distance and the security measures."

Patients with stress cardiomyopathy generally restore their heart function and recover within a few days or weeks, although the disease occasionally serious undesirable cardiac and cerebrovascular events can cause and can rarely be fatal. Stresskardiomyopathy is typically treated with cardiac medication in order to lower blood pressure and slow down the heart rate. Other drugs can be prescribed to deal with stress.

researchers say that further studies in this area are necessary, in particular to determine whether this trend is available in other regions of the country.