Heart attacks often develop at low temperatures, gusty winds and reduced daylight hours, warn Swedish scientists. The results of their study published in the journal JAMA Cardiology.
Primarily the increased risk of heart attacks is associated with a decrease in temperature. Her fall from 20C to 1 is associated with an increased risk of heart attack and 14%. With increasing wind from 0 to 57 km/h this risk is increased by 7%. And when the time Sunny and cloudless day was reduced from 10 hours a day to 1 hour, the chance of heart attack increased by 11%.
Swedish researchers examined data on 274029 patients after myocardial infarction from 1998 to 2013. Taking into account the information about their place and time of stay at the time of the attack, which was then compared with information about the weather conditions in this place.
This massive study, and his data is very reliable, says the study’s lead author, Dr. David Erling (David Erlinge), Professor at Lund University (Lund University).
The study authors propose several possible mechanisms to explain this link. Flu linked to heart attack, the peak of incidence are observed in winter. Changes in physical activity and diet in colder weather can affect heart health. In addition, depression, which can be caused by a decrease in the amount of sunlight also increases the risk of heart disease.
According to Dr. Erling observed increase in the risk of heart attacks can be explained by the effect of weather on the circulatory system.
We know the cold and wind cause the blood vessels in the skin shrink to keep temperature and energy. Because of this, the heart has to exert more effort to pump blood, which increases the workload on the heart and can trigger a heart attack, said Erling. He also advises not to leave the house in those days, if you are at increased risk of heart disease.
However, other scientists believe that the risk is not so great. It is important to note that the overall effect in this case is rather moderate, says Dr. Uthman Beiber (Usman Baber), associate Professor of cardiology, School of medicine Ikana Medical center mount Sinai (Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai) in new York. In his opinion, in this case a major role is not so much the physiology of how human behavior, which changes with the change of weather conditions. He also believes that playing a role and psychological stresses, which are amplified in bad weather, as well as decreased physical activity and changes in diet.
Dmitry Kolesnik