Ho, ho, ho heart attack?
Reported
December 26, 2007
The good side of holiday hoopla -- increased camaraderie, generosity of spirit
-- can help ease depression for some. But what is balm for the mind can be bad
news for the ticker.
National statistics show that even as suicides go down during the holiday
season, deaths from heart disease go up. Cardiac problems increase so much that
researchers have coined the phrases "Merry Christmas Coronary" and "Happy New
Year Heart Attack."
And, contrary to conventional wisdom, the increase in heart attack deaths has
nothing to do with shoveling snow or coronary artery spasms caused by frigid
weather. Dr. Robert A. Kloner, a cardiologist at Good Samaritan Hospital in Los
Angeles, challenged that once-prevalent medical theory in 1999.
His research team examined L.A. County death records of 220,000 people who died
of heart disease over a 12-year period. In a paper published in the journal
Circulation, they reported that heart disease deaths were 33 percent higher in
December and January than they were from June through September -- even in
Southern California's consistently mild climate.
A national study published in 2004 in Circulation further debunked the
cold-weather theory. Researchers led by David P. Phillips at the University of
California, San Diego looked at 53 million death records between 1973 and 2001.
They found a 4.6 percent increase in heart-related deaths in the period from
Christmas Eve through New Year's Day. Although the increase was apparent across
the country, the uptick was slightly smaller in the northern border states than
in southern border states.
The two riskiest days of the year for heart-related deaths: Dec. 25 and Jan. 1.
Christmas and New Year's, it appears, can line up alongside smoking, obesity and
high blood pressure as risk factors for cardiac mortality.
Researchers speculate that some of the things that come with the season of joy
may be playing a part in heart attack deaths: rich food, alcohol and the
season's stress and excitement.
Kloner has some advice on staying healthy -- long enough, at least, to fail at
your New Year's resolutions. He tells patients to try to avoid some of the known
triggers of heart attack: too much food, salt, fat and alcohol. "Avoid excess
physical exertion, overeating, lack of sleep, emotional stress and anger. They
have all been associated with cardiac events," he says.
Don't let a flood of social obligations let you forget to take medications for
high blood pressure or high cholesterol, or get in the way of exercise routines.
"Don't say, `I'm at a party. I'm having chest pain, but I'll just have another
drink and blow it off,' " Kloner says. It's possible that more people die on the
holidays because, in a festive mood, they put off seeing a doctor even in the
face of a classic symptom.
If you do need medical care, try to see a physician who knows you, or at least
make sure a vacation-substitute physician has all your records. Phillips
speculated in his 2004 paper that one reason for the increase in deaths could be
that many health care providers take time off during the holidays, and patients
are seen by doctors who aren't fully aware of patients' histories.
So eat right, exercise, take your medications, don't stress out over what the
holidays are costing you, take Cousin Fred's bad jokes with a grain of salt --
but limit those actual grains of salt. And enjoy the party.
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