The development of somatoform illnesses is often associated with prior psychiatric illness and life
stress. Broken heart syndrome has been associated with a range of stressors and we aimed to investigate if
psychiatric illnesses are risk factors for developing broken heart syndrome.
Methods: We systematically assessed for antecedent psychiatric risk factors in two groups of cases (people who
developed sporadic and earthquake-related broken heart syndrome) and compared them to a control group of
healthy volunteers.