• Posted March 25, 2025

'Broken Heart Syndrome' Doubles Risk of Hospitalization

The final days of acclaimed actor Gene Hackman are heart-rending -- a man with Alzheimer’s disease wandering his home for nearly a week after the untimely death of his wife, before collapsing himself.

Experts have speculated that Hackman, 95, might have died from takotsubo syndrome -- more commonly known as “broken heart syndrome” -- after finding his wife Betsy Arakawa, 65, dead from a hantavirus infection.

A new study shows that takotsubo syndrome can nearly double a person’s risk of landing in the hospital with a potentially fatal illness, according to a report published March 24 in the Annals of Internal Medicine.

“Patients with takotsubo syndrome are particularly susceptible to hospitalization from cardiac, mental health, pulmonary, stroke, neurologic, and infective conditions,” concluded the research team led by senior investigator Dana Dawson, chair of cardiovascular medicine at the University of Aberdeen in the U.K.

In takotsubo syndrome, the heart’s main pumping chamber becomes markedly weaker after a person suffers severe emotional or physical stress.

The syndrome presents like a heart attack, even though the patient may have no heart disease at all, researchers said.

Arakawa is thought to have died from her infection on Feb. 12. On that day, she made a morning call to concierge medical service Cloudberry Health, but failed to make it to an appointment scheduled that afternoon, according to ABC News.

Hackman likely died around Feb. 18. That’s the date on which his pacemaker showed the last record of heart activity.

The couple’s bodies were discovered in their Santa Fe, N.M., home on Feb. 26 during a welfare check. Hackman was found in the house’s mud room, while Arakawa was on the floor in a bathroom with a space heater near her body.

Hackman died from heart disease, with Alzheimer’s as a significant contributory factor, medical examiners said.

Researchers think takotsubo syndrome might have played a role in Hackman’s death. It's thought he didn’t report Arakawa's demise to officials due to his advanced Alzheimer’s.

For the new study, researchers analyzed data from the Scottish Takotsubo Registry, which began recording all cases of the syndrome diagnosed in Scotland starting in 2010.

The team specifically analyzed takotsubo cases that occurred between 2010 and 2017, and tracked the patients through May 2021.

Nearly 12,900 hospitalizations occurred among people diagnosed with takotsubo syndrome, the study says.

The hospital readmission rate was 743 per 1,000 person-years compared with 365 per 1,000 for the general Scottish population, results show. Person-years take into account both the number of people in a study as well as the amount of time each person spends in the study.

That tallies up to a 96% increased risk of hospitalization for takotsubo patients compared to the general public, researchers said.

Hospitalizations among people with takotsubo syndrome were comparable to those for heart attack patients, who had a rate of 750 per 1,000 person-years, researchers noted.

Takotsubo patients were particularly at risk for heart problems like heart attack, heart failure or heart rhythm problems, results show.

They also were more likely to be hospitalized for mental health, stroke, GI disorders and infections, researchers said.

“This highlights these patients’ increased vulnerability and a need for better discharge advice, clinical follow-up, and a focused search for therapeutic strategies directed to the specific pathophysiology of this condition,” researchers concluded.

Further studies are required to understand why takotsubo syndrome occurs, as well as how it has such a devastating effect on health, researchers said.

More information

Harvard Medical School has more on takotsubo syndrome.

SOURCES: American College of Physicians, news release, March 24, 2025; Annals of Internal Medicine, March 24, 2025