Fact Buster

Q: Can you die from a 'broken heart' when someone you love dies?

A: Yes, your risk of heart attack increases when someone you love dies.

Our expert: Dr Thomas Buckley



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We've all heard stories of elderly couples dying within weeks of each other. Family members often attribute the second death to that person's intense grief at the loss of their loved one, and say they died of a broken heart. But can you really die from a broken heart?

Bereavement is considered the most intense stress a person can experience and it increases your risk of a heart attack, says Dr Thomas Buckley, a researcher and lecturer at the University of Sydney.

Buckley says research over the last 50 years has shown when someone very close to you dies  especially if it's your partner or child  you're at a significantly greater risk of dying yourself. And it is your heart that is most likely to kill you during this period of intense grief, with heart attacks responsible for more than half of the excess deaths in those who are recently bereaved.

New research

Buckley and a team of researchers at Sydney's Royal North Shore Hospital recently studied 160 people, of which 80 had a partner or child who had died suddenly.

The bereaved group reported more psychological symptoms such as anger, depression and anxiety. They also had certain physical symptoms such as reduced sleep and appetite, an increase in blood pressure and stress hormones, as well as changes in the immune system and blood clotting.

"It's likely to be a mixture of these factors: psychological, behavioural and biological, which put the person at risk of a heart attack," Buckley says.

But the circumstances in which you lose a loved one can play a role in how your body responds.

"Being less prepared and less satisfied with your support [after the death] are all confounders to higher psychological stress, and lower sleep time, which then seems to be linked to a greater biological response."

While this biological risk of heart attack is higher in the first few weeks after bereavement, it does decrease over time. The bereaved group's stress symptoms were most intense a few weeks after their loved one's death and had reduced considerably three months after the death.

"[These symptoms] continued to reduce down to six months, at which point we stopped measuring. Nobody would expect a bereaved person's psychological symptoms to be completely resolved even at 12 months, compared to a non-bereaved person. But the early months appear to be the most intense."

No age links

Interestingly, it's not just older people who are at increased risk of a heart attack during bereavement.

"Older people may be more at risk but that doesn't discount that younger people are still at risk. You see a slightly higher risk in some age groups, but across all age groups there still is significantly higher risk."

Study participants as young as 30 developed physical changes, and in particular were more likely to have higher depressive symptoms in the early days after the death.

While most of us don't want to think about death, especially if it relates to those we love, Buckley says there are a few things we can take away from the study.

"Our recommendation for people would be: be prepared for the death if that's possible. It seems to be really important. And having the right type of social support around you is also really important."

It's also important to know bereavement puts your body under considerable physical stress and that you should not ignore any worrying symptoms, but be sure to see your doctor.

Dr Thomas Buckley, who is a senior lecturer from the Faculty of Nursing and Midwifery at the University of Sydney, was interviewed by Claudine Ryan.