the broken heart syndrome (also called cardiomyopathy) is an emotional or physical stressful disease that can cause heart failure or even paralysis of the heart muscle and lead to death in some cases.
Symptoms (shortness of breath, chest pain, palpitations…) are very similar to those of a heart attack because they reflect the heart’s temporary inability to pump blood. But unlike a heart attack, recovery from cardiomyopathy is more often than not rapid.
Dr. Amitoj Singh of St Luke’s University in Pennsylvania (USA) conducted a study to examine the link between stress-induced cardiomyopathy and cannabis use. The results have just been presented to the American heart association Congress. For this study, researchers looked at the records of more than 33,000 patients admitted to hospital with broken heart syndrome between 2003 and 2011.
They found that cannabis users have a risk of developing cardiomyopathy of 2.4%, compared to a risk of 0.8% among non-users. They are also more likely (2.4% against 0.6%) to need the implantation of a defibrillator to stabilize their heart rate.
Read also :
Heart attack in women: the 3 symptoms to know
Palpitations: 4 Causes You May Not Know About
