The severe and fatal heart attacks are more common on Mondays. At the beginning of the week, in fact, “the risk of suffering a fatal heart attack is 13% higher than expected“. This is demonstrated by an Irish research that has just been released. The study was conducted by doctors from the Belfast Health and Social Care Trust and the Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland, and just presented by the British Cardiovascular Society (Bcs). The doctors analyzed the data from 10,528 patients hospitalized between 2013 and 2018 with the most severe type of heart attackST-segment elevation myocardial infarction (Stemi) that occurs when a main coronary artery is completely blocked.
“Researchers found a Stemi heart attacks peak at the beginning of the working week, with a higher incidence on Mondays – comments Giovanni Esposito, professor of cardiology at the Federico II University of Naples and national president of Gise, the Italian Society of Interventional Cardiology -, A fact that we can also find in Italy, however. In previous studies it has been shown that the circadian rhythm, which regulates the cycle of sleep and wakefulness, would play a decisive role. In fact, three important cardiovascular risk factors closely linked to the circadian rhythm tend to be associated at the beginning of the week: lack of sleep, ‘unbalanced’ times and stress at the beginning of the week. It’s about a kind of social jetlagwhich increases the risk of heart attack in the most vulnerable subjects”.
In short, on Monday it is easy for the so-called peripheral biological clocks present in almost all organs to ‘bust’, including the heart. The weekend lifestyle, frequent not only in the youngest, can also lead to an increase in blood pressure or sugar and lipids. “Reducing this risk is not that difficult – adds Esposito – respecting the good rules of daily life, food and physical activity, taking the correct therapies at the appropriate times, and perhaps starting the day and week calmly, trying to at least reduce stress.
An increase in accesses for potentially lethal heart attack makes It is crucial that research continues to shed light on how and why this phenomenon occurs. “This study – concludes President Gise – adds to the already numerous evidence on the timing of particularly serious heart attacks, but now we need to better understand what factors make certain days of the week more at risk. This could help clinicians implement intervention strategies and approaches that can save more lives in the future.”