United States: New research shows that hospitals see more people with heart attacks after cold weather starts. Wenli Ni, a researcher from Harvard University, explained that people might be more at risk of heart problems when it’s cold. The team shared their findings at a big heart conference in London and also published the study in a top medical journal.
Impact of Cold Weather on Cardiovascular Health
As reported by Health Day, according to the background information in an American College of Cardiology news release, prior research has suggested that cold snaps trigger a larger “cardiovascular burden” on the heart than hot temperatures do.
Increased Heart Attack Admissions
In the study Ni’s team tracked outcomes for 120,380 people in Sweden’s SWEDEHEART registry and they especially looked at the hospital entrances during the Swedish cold season (October through March) from 2005 to 2019.
The team also discovered that, while admissions for all other types of heart attack fell slightly on the first day of freezing temperatures, they increased dramatically two to six days after the onset of the cold snap.
Behavioral Factors and Health Risks
These trends did not differ by first time heart attack, or subsequent heart attack.
The authors think that severe heart attacks on the first two days of a cold snap might be the result of people choosing to avoid going out of the house. While that kind of behavior is somewhat bearable, they go out in the days following – where they risk freezing temperatures and increased heart risks.
Editorial Insights on Climate Change and Health
Kai Chen from the Yale School of Public Health and Khurram Nasir from the Houston Methodist co-wrote an editorial for the new study.
As for climate change continues to result in fluctuation of temperatures, the speakers stated that “management of both extremes of temperatures will make certain that our health facilities are well equipped in handling these difficulties as far as cardiovascular health is concerned”.