London - The death of a loved one makes you up to 21 times more likely to suffer a heart attack within a day of your loss, cardiologists say.
During the first week of bereavement, the risk is almost six times higher than normal.
It slowly declines during the month that follows, a study found.
Doctors are warning people of the scale of the risk, especially for those closest to the person who died and if they already have heart attack risk factors.
The study found the increased risk within the first week ranged from one per 320 people at high risk to one per 1,394 people with a low heart attack risk.
Psychological stress caused by intense grief can increase heart rate, blood pressure and blood clotting, which in the short-term can raise the chances of a heart attack. Previous research shows grieving spouses have higher long-term risks of dying, with heart disease and stroke accounting for more than half of deaths. This leads to the so-called “broken heart syndrome”.
Dr Murray Mittleman, a preventive cardiologist and epidemiologist at Harvard Medical School, said: “Healthcare providers and the bereaved themselves need to recognise they are in a period of heightened risk in the days and weeks after someone close dies.”
Harvard researchers reviewed health charts and interviewed 1,985 heart attack survivors. Their results were reported the Journal of the American Heart Association.
Professor Peter Weissberg, of the British Heart Foundation, added that heart attacks “triggered by stress normally only happen in people with underlying heart disease”. - Daily Mail