“心碎”也是一种病

　　在分手、伤心、受到创伤之后，我们常常会说：我心都碎了。一般我们会认为“心碎”是一个比喻的修辞，但是其实在医学上这是一种病。人们在经历创伤后很容易患上“心碎综合症”，尤其是对女性来说。

　　“心碎”不仅仅是说说而已，它真的是一种病。人在悲痛欲绝时容易诱发心脏疾病，情感创伤可能会导致心脏功能衰退。女性更容易患上"心碎综合症"。“心碎综合征”常发病于与心爱的人分手或心爱的人死亡。

　　Broken heart syndrome more common in women

　　Think "broken heart" is just a figure of speech? Think again. A new study shows that severe emotional distress, such as the kind experienced after a breakup or the death of a loved one, can cause what doctors call "broken heart syndrome" - especially in women. Women are seven to nine times more likely to suffer from the condition than men, the study found.

　　People with the syndrome experience heart failure or heart attack-like symptoms. The condition usually resolves within weeks, with no lasting damage - but in rare cases it proves fatal.

　　Japanese doctors first recognized the condition around 1990. They nicknamed it "Takotsubo cardiomyopathy" - tako tsubo are octopus traps that resemble the unusual pot-like shape of the stricken heart.

　　The classic case is "a woman who has just lost her husband," said Dr. Mariell Jessup, a University of Pennsylvania heart specialist who has treated many cases of the syndrome.

　　Cyndy Bizon feared the loss of her husband, Joel, when he suffered a massive heart attack in 2005. The Maine woman collapsed at a nurse's station as her husband was wheeled past her into the operating room. After joining him in coronary care, both Bizon and her husband survived.

　　Why does broken heart syndrome occur? A big emotional shock - even a good one, like winning the lottery - triggers a rush of adrenaline and other stress hormones that cause the heart's main pumping chamber to balloon suddenly and malfunction. Tests show dramatic changes in rhythm and blood substances typical of a heart attack but none of the artery blockages that typically cause one.

　　A trawl of records of 1,000 hospitals revealed 6,229 cases in 2007. Only 671 of these involved men. It was three times more common in women over 55 than in younger women. And women younger than 55 were 9.5 times more likely to suffer it than men of that age, an American Heart Association conference heard.

　　No one knows why women are more vulnerable but sex hormones may be at play or men’s bodies may be better at handling stress.

　　The conference also heard that while heart attacks happen more in winter, broken heart syndrome is more common in summer. About 10 percent of victims will have a secondepisode sometime in their lives.