A new study found that there is an additional 2,000 heart-related deaths that occur during Christmas and New Year each year. This is five percent higher than any other days of the year.
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), heart diseases top the list of the leading causes of deaths which account for 597,689 deaths per year. Next on the list are cancers, chronic lower respiratory diseases, and stroke.
David Phillips, lead researcher of the study and a sociologist at the University of California’s San Diego, and his colleagues conducted a study to find out the period when most people die. They based their findings on 53 million death certificates from 1973 to 2001.
Their analysis revealed that there is a five percent increase on heart-related deaths during Christmas Day, a day after Christmas, and a day after New Year’s Day.
The researchers listed the factors that may explain the sudden spike. One factor is hospital staffing, in which most of the medical team are on leave during those days thus patients are not attended immediately unlike other days of the year.
Second factor is the patient’s negligence. Most of the patients usually notice the symptoms but choose to ignore them because of the holiday rush, thus going to a doctor is not a priority as it may delay their planned activities for the season. Another is stress and overindulgence, wherein people eat and drink too much and put off exercise.
This study was published in the journal Circulation.
Robert A. Kloner, a professor at the Keck School of Medicine at the University of Southern California, who was not part of the study, shared tips to WebMd on preventing holiday heart attacks. These include dressing layered clothes to keep the body warm, limiting stressful or tiring activities, drinking and eating moderately, avoiding smokes, and seeking immediate help when symptoms begin.
