According to a study published in the Journal of the American Heart Association (JAHA), broken heart syndrome or Takotsubo cardiomyopathy has become more common now, especially among middle-aged and older women.
Women are known to be more prone to developing Takotsubo syndrome compared to men but the new study is the first to reveal age-based sex differences.
Women in the older age bracket are being diagnosed with the condition up to 10 times more often than younger women or men of any age. The researchers discovered that there was a significant increase in incidence among middle-aged women and older women, compared to younger women.
Senior author of the study Susan Cheng, director of the Institute for Research on Healthy Aging in the Department of Cardiology at the Smidt Heart Institute, said that the findings further validate the role of heart-brain connection in overall health, especially for women.
Cheng and her research team examined the data of more than 135,000 women and men who were diagnosed with Takotsubo cardiomyopathy between 2006 and 2017.
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According to the study, women are diagnosed more frequently than men, and that women aged 50 to 74 are being diagnosed more frequently, at least six to 10 times more often, than for any other demographic.
The annual incidence of broken heart syndrome increased steadily in both sexes, with women contributing more than 83%, mostly those over 50.
The COVID-19 pandemic has posed many challenges and stressors for women, but the incidence of broken heart syndrome has been rising well before the coronavirus outbreak, the study suggested. However, the pandemic has been on of the key players to the rise of this disorder.
The rise in broken heart syndrome could be due to changes in susceptibility, the environment, or both.
A survey conducted by the NGO Population Foundation of India last year revealed that women are more stressed than men during the pandemic lockdown due to various reasons, such as extra workload at home, family pressure, and lack of access to hygiene materials.
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