Battling Heart and Stroke

Have you reset your clocks? Ready for the time transition? Depending on the season, we are moving back and forth in time. We “spring forward” in the spring and “fall backwards” in the autumn. The North Americans call it Daylight Saving Time or DST for short and Standard time, respectively. In Europe, we can it “summer time” and “winter time.”

How does time transition affect our health?

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Every year, millions of people suffer from heart attack. In Central Europe alone, more than 600,000 cases of cardiac arrest occur annually - 9 per 10,000 inhabitants. Some are lucky to survive. Some don’t. Those who survived were probably recipients of intensive care.

A major heart attack entails that a patient be admitted to an intensive care unit (ICU). There are many other acute conditions aside from cardiac problems that require intensive care. Add to these a large number of trauma cases and ICUs can get very crowded indeed. ICUs however cost a lot of money and can be a burden to the health care system. The question always arises as to how to prioritize limited ICU space.

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Instead of featuring a heart(y) celebrity this month, I would like to pay my respects to Tim Russert of NBC.

I was travelling around Western Europe when I heard of his unexpected death. Even here in the old continent, his name and face was known, especially among the English-speaking community. Russert was a respected political journalist whose opinion carried a lot of weight in the political scene.

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By Eric Hartwell

Heart attacks, known by their medical name of acute myocardial infarction, is a state of disease that involves the interruption of the bloody supply to part of the heart. The result is a shortage of oxygen that can damage the heart tissue and potentially kill. Heart attacks are the leading cause of death all over the world. Major heart attack risk factors include a history of angina or vascular disease, a previous stroke or heart attack, old age, excessive alcohol, the abuse of illegal drugs, smoking, episodes of abnormal heart beat, obesity, high levels of stress, high or low cholesterol, high triglyceride levels, high blood pressure, and diabetes.

“Myocardial infarction” is a term derived from the scientific terms for the heart muscle, myocardium, and tissue death as a result of lack of oxygen – infarction. It should be noted that sudden cardiac death is different from a heart attack; a heart attack may or may not result in sudden cardiac death.

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