The study looked at data from over 10,000 people in the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland.
Cursed Monday! And not just because for most of us it means going back to work. On Sunday June 4, the journal EurekAlert relayed the results of a study conducted by doctors from the Belfast Health and Social Care Trust and the Royal College of Surgery in Dublin.
And they saw a spike in heart attack rates on Monday, but also on Sunday. Explanations.
10,000 patients studied
To arrive at these results, the scientists analyzed data from 10,528 people admitted to hospital for a myocardial infarction with ST segment elevation, between 2013 and 2018 in Ireland and Northern Ireland.
Thus, the risk of having a heart attack is thus 13 times higher on Monday compared to the other days of the week. How to explain the observation of such a peak?
The circadian rhythm in question?
If scientists are unable to date to formally establish the cause, the circadian rhythm (the internal clock, the one that punctuates the cycle of wakefulness and sleep) could play a role.
Jack Laffan, cardiologist at the Belfast Health and Social Care Trust, develops:
We found a strong statistical correlation between the beginning of the working week and the incidence of this myocardial infarction. This phenomenon has already been described, but remains a curiosity. The cause is likely multifactorial, but based on what we know from previous studies, it’s reasonable to assume there’s a circadian element.
80,000 heart attacks per year in France
Professor Sir Nilesh Samani, Medical Director of the British Heart Foundation (BHF), welcomed the study:
It provides additional evidence on when particularly severe heart attacks occur, but now we need to understand what makes certain days of the week more conducive. This could help doctors better understand this deadly disease and save more lives in the future.
According to health insurance figures, 80,000 people suffer a myocardial infarction each year in France.