Impact of long-term stress in Takotsubo syndrome: Experience of patients.
Sara Wallström, Kerstin Ulin, Sylvia Määttä and 2 others
PMID 26572162WHAT IT FOUND
Patients with Takotsubo syndrome described years of low-intensity stress from caregiving, injustice and powerlessness as more burdensome than the acute trigger.
They felt worn down before illness.
Key findings
01Patients described long-term low-intensity stress before Takotsubo syndrome onset as more burdensome than the stress trigger.
02Their accounts centred on endless responsibilities for others, unmet needs, injustice and powerlessness.
03Participants often avoided asking for help and tried to endure by keeping busy, hiding problems and maintaining appearances.
STILL TO COME
How it was doneWhat they foundWhat it means for RNs
Read the rest of this summary
You get three full summaries a month, free, and we do not ask for a card. Search, the TL;DRs and your library stay unlimited either way.
What it does not show
Only 19 patients were interviewed, and only 2 were men, so the accounts may not represent all patients with Takotsubo syndrome. Participants were asked after diagnosis to describe stress from years or decades earlier, so recall and current illness may have shaped what they said. Participants had to speak Swedish and were from Western Sweden, so the findings may not transfer to other settings.
Declared interests
The authors declared no conflict of interest. Funding came from the Centre for Person-Centred Care, the Swedish Government strategic research grant, the University of Gothenburg, ALF, the Swedish Heart and Lung Association, the Emelle Fund and the Royal and Hvitfeldtska Foundation.
The easy way to misread this
Do not read this as proof that long-term stress causes Takotsubo syndrome. This qualitative study describes patients' experiences. It does not measure whether stress caused the syndrome.