'Broken heart syndrome' has increased during the Covid-19 pandemic, according to a small US study.

The research team found significant increase in two Ohio hospitals of  Stress-induced cardiomyopathy or Takotsubo syndrome -- which is often called "broken heart syndrome".

Two times likelier to have broken heart syndrome

Patients during the pandemic were two times likelier to have broken heart syndrome, according to the study, which was published in the medical journal JAMA Network Open. 

Researchers at the Cleveland Clinic studied patients at two hospitals with heart trouble who were treated this spring, and compared them to patients with similar issues over the past two years.

The study concluded that the increase was likely connected to the "psychological, social, and economic stress" caused by the pandemic, which includes "imposed quarantine, lack of social interaction, strict physical distancing rules, and its economic consequences in people's lives."

The new study didn't find any meaningful change in the death rate between pre-pandemic patients and those who were hospitalized in March and April of this year, researchers said, CNN reports.

The pandemic environment is not healthy

"The pandemic has created a parallel environment which is not healthy," said Dr. Ankur Kalra, the cardiologist who led the study. "Emotional distancing is not healthy. The economic impact is not healthy. We've seen that as an increase in non-coronavirus deaths, and our study says that stress cardiomyopathy has gone up because of the stress that the pandemic has created."

Read the research HERE