Can People Die of a Broken Heart?

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On Dec. 27, 2016, actress Carrie Fisher had a cardiac arrest on a flight from London to Los Angeles. The “Star Wars” icon was just 15 minutes away from landing in Los Angeles when the heart attack occurred. She was rushed to the hospital and died a few days later after lingering on life support. Just 24 hours after her death, Fisher’s celebrity mother, Debbie Reynolds, died of a stroke. Does the proximity of their deaths have anything to do with their relationship as mother and daughter? Could Reynolds have died from a broken heart?

According to scientists, she may have. In a recent interview with Fox News, Dr. Scott Krakower, assistant unit chief of psychiatry at Zucker Hillside Hospital in New Hyde Park, New York, agreed that broken heart syndrome “is real, and it exists. While an exact cause is unclear,” he added, “scientists have proposed several hypothetical mechanisms, including excessive levels of stress hormones and spasms of an artery.”

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The syndrome, also known as “takotsubo cardiomyopathy,” occurs when a part of the heart becomes temporarily enlarged and cannot pump well as a result of major stress. The rest of the heart may continue to work normally, or twice as hard. The condition’s name comes from the odd shape that the heart adopts when the condition occurs. It resembles a “tak-tsubo,” a fishing pot used by the Japanese to trap octopuses.

According to the American Heart Association, the symptoms of broken heart syndrome are similar to those of a heart attack, such as chest pain and shortness of breath. A major difference between the two, however, is that in broken heart syndrome, a person will not have blocked arteries or heart damage.

With that said, how could Debbie Reynolds have died from this condition? She suffered a stroke, which occurs in the brain, not the heart. Nevertheless, according to a 2014 study published in JAMA Internal Medicine, both heart attack and stroke are common after the death of a spouse or close loved one. Researchers found that this was true even when they accounted for other risk factors, such as high blood pressure, age and heart disease. Thus, it comes as no surprise that Reynolds died just hours after receiving the news of her daughter’s death.

Reynolds (right) and her daughter Carrie
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“It’s unclear how often strokes occur as a result of broken heart syndrome,” Dr. Krakower said. “However, a person is more likely to have a heart attack or a stroke in the period after the death of someone close to him or her, whether specifically related to broken heart syndrome or not.” Krakower also offered some important advice: “It’s important for someone who has lost a loved one to be able to grieve properly and to express what he or she is feeling outwardly.”

If you’ve recently lost a loved one or know someone who has, we encourage you reach out to friends, family or a mental health professional, and express your feelings rather than holding them in. It might just save a life.