Death of Debbie Reynolds: Can You Die from a Broken Heart?

Following the death of Star Wars icon Carrie Fisher on Tuesday, Debbie Reynolds, Fisher's mother, suffered what appears to be a stroke and died Wednesday. Reynolds, herself a household name and Hollywood star for more than 60 years, was struggling to cope with the unexpected death of her daughter, according to Todd Fisher, her son.

He told reporters that his mother had always looked after her daughter. The pair lived together in Carrie Fisher's home in Beverly Hills.

"She held it together beautifully, obviously, for the last couple of days, but she was under a lot of emotion and stress from the loss [of Fisher] and it's pretty much what triggered this event," Todd Fisher told E! News.

While it's difficult to be certain about the particular cause of Reynolds' death, believed to be a stroke, her son's explanation is not outlandish. Doctors even have a coinage for similar events: broken heart syndrome.

Deaths following the loss of a loved one are well-documented.

California couple Floyd and Violet Hartwig died within five hours in 2015 of each other after 67 years of marriage. New Jersey's Olympia DeNittis, married to her husband Michael also for 67 years, died at the age of 95; Michael died just 32 hours later in 2014. Amazingly, New York's Addy and Bobby Otten and Rhode Island's Carmine Luigi and Francesca Ragosta were also each married for 67 years before dying hours apart.

It all sounds a little fantastical — but it's a phenomenon recognized by mainstream science.

The American Heart Association notes that "broken heart syndrome," technically known as takotsubo cardiomyopathy, can occur even in healthy people. It presents as similar to a heart attack, but there is no physical blockage in the organ's arteries.

Hormones released under the emotional stress of a loss can strain the cardiovascular system.

"In broken heart syndrome, a part of your heart temporarily enlarges and doesn’t pump well, while the rest of your heart functions normally or with even more forceful contractions," according to the association's web site. "Researchers are just starting to learn the causes, and how to diagnose and treat it."

And though two loved ones dying in close succession could just be a coincidence, there's good reason to believe that, at least in many cases, there is a more direct connection.

Back in April, the journal Open Heart published a study which found that the death of a partner greatly increased a person's risk of atrial fibrillation, or irregular heartbeat.

The authors, led by Dr. Simon Graff of Denmark's Aarhus University, "suggest that acute stress may directly disrupt normal heart rhythms and prompt the production of chemicals involved in inflammation," according to the study's press release.

"In addition, patients with paroxysmal [atrial fibrillation] often claim that emotional stress is a common triggering factor and increasing levels of perceived stress are associated with prevalent [atrial fibrillation],” the authors said.

Other studies have found severe stress is a likely cause of stroke, which Reynolds is believed to have had.

The stress caused by these events can boost a patient's blood pressure, which increases the likelihood of a stroke, researchers believe.

This may not come as a surprise to anyone who has experienced a devastating loss. When a loved one dies, emotional reactions produce real physiological changes, such as trouble breathing or a tightness in the chest. In most cases, of course, these changes are within normal limits and do not pose a threat. In extreme cases, however, the shock may be dire.

The study published in Open Heart found that the healthier a partner was at the time of death, the worse the effects of the loss were.

"We found that the highest risk [of irregular heartbeat] was associated with the least predicted losses, while no association was found for more expected losses," the authors wrote.

In other words, those who expected their partner to die, say, at the end of a long-term illness, seemed best able to emotionally and physically cope. People who were unprepared for a partner's death faced the severest health effects.

This may have been the case for Reynolds. Few expect to witness their children die, and Fisher's death came on suddenly, not over months or years. The researchers also found that women are at greater risk than men.

While the Open Heart study particularly focused on the effects of the death of a life partner, other research has shown similar consequences from a broader array of causes. A 2014 study from the American College of Cardiology found that broken heart syndrome appeared to spike in areas hit by extreme natural disasters. And in March, researchers from the European Society of Cardiology reported that even strong positive emotions may be linked to the heart condition.

We will probably never know with any detail what connections there were between Reynolds' death and Fisher's. But if nothing else, this quote from Reynolds' 2013 memoir, "Unsinkable," shows how much she loved her daughter:

Carrie is my child, and I love her with every ounce of strength I possess. If love alone could cure our children, they would always be well. Since I can’t, I will do whatever I can to make her life less difficult.

Lead image: Debbie Reynolds and Eddie Fisher. Photo credit: AP (public domain)