Stress and its effect on the heart, including broken heart syndrome, acute coronary syndrome, and cardiovascular risk factors

Broken heart syndrome, which is left ventricular dysfunction in the absence of coronary artery disease, is so-called because it can be triggered by extreme stress, such as loss of a loved one. Stress can also, in people with existing disease, trigger an acute coronary event and exacerbate arrhythmias.

In this episode, the MIMS Learning editors Dawn Liz Powell and Rhiannon Ashman review how stress — both in the short and long term — can affect the heart. They look at broken heart syndrome (also known as takotsubo syndrome) and how stress can lead to an unhealthy lifestyle and, consequently, is a risk factor for cardiovascular disease.

The editors also discuss how GPs and other primary care health professionals can support patients who are chronically stressed both by helping them to manage their stress levels and by addressing the risk factors that can develop as a consequence, directly or indirectly, of stress.

You can access the website version of this podcast on MIMS Learning to make notes for your appraisal. MIMS Learning offers hundreds of hours of CPD for healthcare professionals, along with a handy CPD organiser.

Please note: this podcast is presented by medical editors and discusses educational content written or presented by doctors, nurses and other healthcare professionals on the MIMS Learning website and at live events.

Further learning on MIMS Learning

• Achieving new cholesterol targets in primary care
• Coronary artery disease in women
• Guidance update: latest NICE guidelines on cardiovascular disease risk assessment and reduction
• Guidance update: latest NICE guidelines on type 2 diabetes in adults
• Guidance update: NICE guidelines on hypertension
• Obesity in adults
• Podcast: Professor Alex Miras on supporting people with obesity
• Podcast: NASP's Monica Boulton on making best use of social prescribing in primary care
• Resources for supporting people to improve their mental wellbeing
• Takotsubo syndrome: clinical review
• Wellbeing masterclass

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