Seasonal Heart Attack Risk

According to the American Heart Association, deaths from heart attacks appear to peak during the winter holiday season of December and January and then fall drastically. Although past studies have shown that heart attack deaths are more likely to occur in the early morning hours, this is the first study to look at the months and seasons.

Researchers from the University of Southern California studied deaths from coronary artery disease for a 12-year period in Los Angeles. The results show that there are 33 percent more deaths in the holiday season of December and January compared to the summer and early fall. "We were surprised by that. We weren't expecting that much of a difference," says Robert A. Kloner, M.D., Ph.D., director of research at The Heart Institute, Good Samaritan Hospital, Los Angeles and professor of medicine, University of Southern California, Los Angeles.

Kloner also states that one explanation may be the holiday season. "The death rates are relatively steady through November then shoot up after Thanksgiving and through Christmas, peaking around the first of the year. This could be due to increased food, alcohol and salt consumption and increased stress during the holidays."

Another possible factor, says Kloner, is the increased use of fireplaces and the particles emitted into the air from burning wood. These particles may irritate the lungs, decreasing the amount of oxygen in the bloodstream and then placing stress on the heart. "The higher coronary death rate during the winter months appears to be due to a combination of factors."

There did appear to be a relationship between cooler temperatures and coronary deaths when calculated on a monthly basis. Researchers say this could be due to an increased workload on the heart during the winter months, higher blood pressure and higher fibrinogen, a clotting protein that is associated with an increase in heart attack risk.

To reduce your risk of heart attack, change, treat or modify the following risk factors:

• Cigarette and tobacco smoke
• High blood cholesterol
• High blood pressure
• Physical inactivity
• Obesity and overweight
• Diabetes mellitus