SUNDAY, Sept. 5 (HealthDay News) -- Skiers and other winter
sports tourists who visit the Alps are at increased risk for heart
attack due to low temperatures, high altitude and inadequate
conditioning for intense physical exertion, finds a new study.
The risk is greatest during the first two days of vacation, said
a research team of cardiologists at the Medical University of
Innsbruck, Austria, who focused on winter tourists in the Tyrolean
Alps.
"Every year, millions of tourists visit the Tyrolean Alps to participate in a variety of winter sports, each of which carries a certain risk of accident and injury," study senior author Dr. Bernhard Metzler, an associate professor of cardiology at the university, said in a news release from the European Society of Cardiology.
"Previously it had been shown that sudden cardiac death accounts for a staggering 40 percent of the total fatalities amongst winter sports tourists in the Austrian Alps and, of these, acute [heart attack] is the leading cause," he added.
Metzler and colleagues analyzed data from 170 patients who
suffered a heart attack during a winter sports vacation between
2006 and 2010. About 56 percent of the patients suffered their
heart attack within the first two days of beginning intense
physical activity, although just 19 percent had a known cardiac
condition.
Prior to their vacation, more than half of the patients got less
than the minimum levels of physical activity recommended by the
European Society of Cardiology.
Altitude may have been a major factor, the study authors noted.
The patients' heart attacks occurred at a mean altitude of 1,350
meters (4,429 feet), compared to the mean altitude of 170 meters
(557 feet) where they lived.
The researchers also found that about 70 percent of the patients
had at least two risk factors for coronary artery disease,
including smoking, diabetes or high cholesterol levels.
People planning winter sports holidays in the mountains need to
prepare themselves with regular exercise beforehand, the study
authors suggested. Once at the resort, they should increase their
level of physical activity gradually, they added.
The researchers presented their findings last week at the
European Society of Cardiology Congress, in Stockholm, Sweden.
More information
The American Academy of Family Physicians has more about
heart attack warning signs and prevention.