D. Richter: Significant increase in heart attacks 2 to 4 days after a large earthquake

Big increase in heart attacks the first four days after a large seismic vibration is observed over time, according to what the Secretary General of the Hellenic Cardiology Foundation (ELIKAR) stated to the FM Agency Dimitris Richter. As he states, all acute stress is associated with the possibility of a heart attack. “In earthquakes, the two best records we have are both from the 1981 earthquake in Greece, (published in the Lancet, by the late Professor D. Trichopoulos) and from the Los Angeles earthquake in 1994, (New England Journal of Medicine) where we saw a very large spike in heart attacks over the next two to four days. These are two important publications that are always a reference bibliography for those writing about stress and the heart.”

Why does someone get a heart attack from fear?

As Mr. Richter explains psychological stress affects hormones, which are negative. “When we fill our body with adrenaline, at that time it is very likely that an atherosclerotic plaque that we have will break. At the same time the vessel spasms, so we secrete so many hormones, that at that time, the more vulnerable or unlucky someone is, the more the chances of an acute episode occur. The concept of stress is related to how we deal with it. Because in the same stimulus I can remain indifferent and another can feel really afraid and be full at that time of catecholamines (hormones secreted by our body when it needs to be alert). Apart from the event itself, to a large extent it matters how we try to keep our composure.”

What should cardiac patients pay attention to during periods of seismic upheaval

And the question that reasonably arises is why the occurrence of heart attacks increases 2-4 days after the earthquake and not at the same time when the person is stressed so much? “It can happen from this moment to the next 4 days. Many times the stress that you will “take out” at that moment needs a few days for its action to go away. So the chance you have of having a heart attack 5 hours later is very close to the chance you have the next day and the day after. After the third day he starts to get a little sick, that’s why after the fifth he becomes normal.” But what should cardiac patients pay attention to during periods of seismic activity, such as the one we are currently experiencing? “To make sure that they take their medications correctly and especially those who refuse medication despite their doctor’s instructions, not to wait for a random event that can cause their atherosclerotic plaques to rupture and then start taking care of themselves. Keeping calm is extremely important, because terribly intense fear and panic do not help. And after the heart attack we can be careful, but every heart attack has a chance of causing sudden death. There is no reason anyone should suffer this possibility.” According to the well-known cardiologist, it plays a very big role how much one has noticed oneself up to that moment.

“That is, a person who smokes and has 2.80 cholesterol and whenever a doctor tells him you should stop smoking and take a pill, he says you’re not bored, I don’t take pills, does not have the same risk as a person who does not smoke and has regulated his risk factors.” It is not only the earthquake that creates great stress, Mr. Richter points out, as he says there is also literature on the 2014 World Cup, where in Germany as the days went by and the teams reached the final, heart attacks increased after each match , who was ambivalent. “And heart attacks were increasing especially in men because men are passionate about the world cup and live all the stress of this process.”

RES-EMP

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