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'Broken Heart Syndrome' can turn deadly in days Christchurch research shows

February 18, 2018

Researchers have studied women whose hearts were literally broken during the Canterbury earthquakes.

New research from Christchurch has found that the two or three days after suffering 'Broken Heart Syndrome' is when you are most at risk of it being fatal.

The alarming finding has been discovered after studying data from women whose hearts were literally broken during the Canterbury earthquakes.

Twenty-year-old medical student George Watson is dedicating himself to finding out more about this potentially fatal affliction.

"I suppose the idea of broken hearts is something you hear about in songs. But to see it's actually a real medical condition with potentially quite serious medical complications definitely grabbed my eye," he told 1 NEWS.

Mr Watson has interviewed 11 women who've suffered broken hearts, for a summer studentship programme with the University of Otago Christchurch.

Many of their alarming symptoms, like chest pain and shortness of breath, were brought on by personal trauma, or the shock of the Canterbury earthquakes.

Sixty-year-old Kathy Berg felt her heart break after the Kaikoura earthquake hit.

"It's like having the biggest fright of your life. For me it broke my heart," she said.

Mr Watson's study has found most recover completely in six weeks, but the risk of dying early is alarmingly dangerous.

The study has detected a 10 per cent increase in people with broken heart syndrome in Christchurch over the last decade.

It's keeping a close eye on 195 of those patients.

The findings of the research will be published internationally.

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