Michael Olgren - Emergency Room perspective on Super Bowl - heart attack warnings/prevention

from Michigan Live! (http://www.mlive.com/) - posted online Saturday 2/5/2011

Football fans getting ready for Super Bowl parties might want to put heart meds on their shopping lists. Practicing stress reduction techniques might not hurt, either.

A recent study effectively added the big game to the List of Things We Like That Are Bad For Us.
How bad?
Researchers found a spike in cardiac deaths after the Los Angeles Rams lost a particularly intense game in 1980.
Local doctors who were asked about the findings were quick to reassure fans that they can still enjoy the Super Bowl. But they were also eager to use the study as a teaching moment — to encourage people to take care of their hearts.
The study published Monday in the journal Clinical Cardiology was done by Los Angeles-area researchers led by Dr. Robert Kloner, of the Heart Institute, Good Samaritan Hospital and USC’s Keck School of Medicine.
Analyzing cardiac deaths after the 1980 Super Bowl, they found:
• A 15 percent increase for men

• A 27 percent increase for women

• A 22 percent increase for people older than 65.
They did not, however, find an increase in deaths after the L.A. Raiders won the Super Bowl in a less thrilling game in 1984.
Dr. Michael Olgren, medical director of the emergency department at Saint Mary's Health Care, gives advice on how to maintain a healthy heart during the Super Bowl.
There are many possible reasons for the increase in deaths, and one is emotional stress, said Dr. Michael Olgren, medical director of emergency services at Saint Mary’s Health Care.
“It’s hard to say for sure if someone’s heart attack is caused by stress, but I have had patients who had stressful events and ended up having a heart attack,” he said.
Studies have shown increases in heart attacks following high-stress events, including bombings in the Middle East, earthquakes and other natural disasters — and the 2006 soccer World Cup in Germany, said Dr. Mike Vredenburg, a cardiologist with West Michigan Heart.
The adrenaline rush from emotional events — good and bad — can be hazardous to the heart, he added.
“Either side of the ball, there could be a risk.”
There is also the issue of Super Bowl snacks. Gobbling high-fat food (think cheesy nachos, ribs, wings) can cause spasms in the arteries, the doctors said. And overdosing on salty foods can cause people who have congestive heart failure to retain water — which could lead to breathing problems.
Skipping heart or blood pressure medication could also be a factor, Olgren said. If you go to someone else’s house to watch the game, don’t forget to pack your meds, he said.
Some people who have a heart condition might not realize it until they have a heart attack — and that’s another issue altogether, Vredenburg said. He encouraged people to see a family doctor on a regular basis, to exercise regularly, to avoid fatty foods and not to smoke.
“It’s a whole constellation of things that go together that cause an event,” he said.
The higher death rate for women surprised the researchers who conducted the study. They speculated that, in addition to being upset about the game, the women might be stressed by dealing with the unhappy men in their lives.
“While this is just one study, it does illustrate a key message from the American Heart Association’s Go Red For Women program (which was held Friday),” said Cindy Bouma, a spokeswoman for the association’s Midwest Affiliate.
“For many years, researchers assumed that studies done with one gender would apply to both. We’re now learning that men and women can react differently to cardiac events. For example, a women may have heart attack symptoms that are more subtle than a man, including pain along the jaw line.
“Do they have different triggers as well? Possibly.”
Olgren said he won’t be rooting for the Packers or the Steelers on Sunday. He’s a Lions fan (which might carry its own heart risks). But he said even ardent fans should be able to use common sense when watching the game. ”I don’t think that takes the fun out of it,” he said. “Go ahead and enjoy the Super Bowl. Take your medication and don’t go way overboard on eating.”