A recent study showed that heart attack risk elevates over Christmas and New Year’s holidays.
Patients may ask about a widely reported study suggesting that myocardial infarctions are more likely to occur over the Christmas and New Year’s holidays. The findings appear in The BMJ‘s Christmas issue.
Researchers studied over 280,000 MI admissions that occurred in Sweden between 1998 and 2013. They found that MI risk was significantly higher on Christmas Eve, Christmas Day, Boxing Day (December 26), New Year’s Day, and Midsummer (a Swedish holiday preceding the summer solstice), relative to control periods 2 weeks before and after the holidays. Christmas Eve in particular carried the highest risk increase (incidence rate ratio, 1.37). Easter holidays did not confer similar risks.
An analysis of MIs around the time of major sporting events, including World Cup championships, did not show elevated risks.
The researchers note, “In this nationwide real world study covering 16 years of hospital admissions for myocardial infarction with symptom onset documented to the nearest minute, Christmas, and Midsummer holidays were associated with higher risk of myocardial infarction, particularly in older and sicker patients, suggesting a role of external triggers in vulnerable individuals.”
Read the article here.
Source: NEJM Journal Watch & BMJ
