As snowfall increases across Northeast Ohio, more people are heading outside to remove snow from their property. But Dr. James Cireddu, a cardiologist at University Hospitals Harrington Heart & Vascular Institute, cautioned doing so can increase the risk of heart attack or heart failure.
“You've got this combination of increases in blood pressure that you get with exercise, increase in heart rate that you get with exercise, and then your body also having to deal with the stress of the cold," Cireddu said. "And that combination really increases the strain on the heart.”
The number of heart attacks increases during the winter with more U.S. cardiac deaths occurring on Dec. 25 than on any other day of the year, followed by Dec. 26 and Jan. 1, according to the American Heart Association. A 2022 study also found a worldwide rise in such incidents during the winter.
"The cold weather really does have an increased risk of cardiac events all the way up to cardiovascular death, and we should take that seriously," Cireddu said.
The risks are particularly acute for older people, those with pre-existing cardiovascular diseases, people who do not regularly exercise, those who are obese, smokers or those who smoked for a long period of time, and individuals with diabetes, Cireddu said.
Dressing properly for the cold, taking frequent breaks during shoveling and recognizing warning signs are essential to reducing health risks, he said, adding that those signs can include a number of things.
For example, women may not experience classic chest pain or pressure, he said.
"Sometimes, it can actually go to the belly. It can go to the arm, it can go to the neck... Any discomfort getting worse as you're exerting yourself should be concerning," Cireddu noted.
But there are also subtler warnings, like running out of breath.
"There's real severe dizziness, lightheadedness, or feeling like your heart's racing, starting to feel irregular," Cireddu said.
Should any of these symptoms persist, it is important to act immediately.
“In cardiology, we're frequently seeing (that) time lost is heart muscle loss, which means if you are having a heart attack, delaying care can cause the heart muscle to be damaged or scarred, which could be unrecoverable if that lasts too long,” Cireddu said.
He recommended calling 911 and requesting emergency medical services immediately if symptoms persist.
