AARP Hearing Center
In the weeks after losing a spouse or child, the bereaved are much more likely to experience rapid heartbeats and other potentially dangerous changes in heart rhythm, according to a study presented Sunday at an American Heart Association conference in Chicago.
The findings offer a glimpse into the physiology underlying an ancient folk belief: that a person can perish of a "broken heart."
In fact, research over the last half-century has established a firm link between bereavement and an increased risk of dying from any cause, and from cardiovascular events like a heart attack, sudden cardiac arrest and stroke in particular.
One Scottish study published in 2007 found that, even after controlling for other risk factors, loss of a spouse increased a person's chances of dying by nearly 20 percent. An earlier study suggested that, during the first day of bereavement, a person's risk of nonfatal heart attack is increased as much as 14-fold.
In the latest study, led by Thomas Buckley, of the University of Sydney Nursing School, 78 people who had lost a spouse or child within the previous two weeks were tested using round-the-clock heart monitors, questionnaires and other tools, then reexamined six months later.