Circulation：失去爱人真的会让人心碎

近日，刊登在Circulation杂志上的一项研究"Risk of Acute Myocardial Infarction after Death of a Significant Person in One's Life: The Determinants of MI Onset Study"表明：失去爱人真的会让人心碎。

心脏病专家说，所爱之人离世第一天会让你心脏病发作的可能性高21倍。在失去爱人的第一个星期里，心脏病发作的风险也差不多是正常情况的6倍。在接下来的一个月里，这个风险才会慢慢降下来。

医生告诫人们警惕此项风险，尤其对于有亲人已经去世，和已经有心脏病突发可能性的人。

美国对近2000名心脏病突发幸存者进行的研究发现，他们在失去身边重要的人的头一个星期内，心脏病突发的可能性会上升。此前已经研究显示痛失亲人会对健康造成长期的影响，人们会得上一种叫“心碎综合征”的病。

专家认为，失去亲人导致的压力对健康有着直接影响，缺少睡眠和食欲也会令免疫力低下，令已有的健康问题恶化。

哈佛大学医学院贝丝-伊斯雷尔女执事医疗中心和公共卫生学院的预防性心脏病专家和流行病学家默里-米特尔曼说：“看护人、医疗服务提供者和失去亲人的人本身都需要认识到在得知亲人死亡后的数天和数周内是发病高危期。”

深深的悲痛导致的心理压力会让心率加快、血压上升和血凝结，从而在短时间内增加心脏病突发的可能性。


Risk of Acute Myocardial Infarction after Death of a Significant Person in One's Life: The Determinants of MI Onset Study

Elizabeth Mostofsky1; Malcolm Maclure2; Jane B. Sherwood3; Geoffrey H. Tofler4; James E. Muller5; Murray A. Mittleman1*

Background—Acute psychological stress is associated with an abrupt increase in the risk of cardiovascular events. Intense grief in the days following the death of a significant person may trigger the onset of acute myocardial infarction (MI), but this relationship has not been systematically studied.

Methods and Results—We conducted a case-crossover analysis of 1985 participants from the multicenter Determinants of MI Onset Study interviewed during index hospitalization for an acute MI between 1989 and 1994. We compared the observed number of deaths in the days preceding MI symptom onset to its expected frequency based on each patient's control information, defined as the occurrence of deaths in the period from 1 to 6 months prior to infarction. Among the 1985 subjects, 270 (13.6%) experienced the loss of a significant person in the prior six months, including 19 within 1 day of their MI. The incidence rate of acute MI onset was elevated 21.1 fold (95%CI 13.1 to 34.1) within 24 hours of the death of a significant person, and declined steadily on each subsequent day. The absolute risk of MI within 1 week of the death of a significant person is 1 excess MI per 1394 exposed individuals at low (5%) 10-year MI risk and 1 per 320 among individuals at high (20%) 10-year risk.

Conclusions—Grief over the death of a significant person was associated with an acutely increased risk of MI in the subsequent days. The impact may be greatest among individuals at high cardiovascular risk.

实际情况应该是这样的。

哦，爱要用心