Risk of heart attack increases during cold, study finds

Amsterdam: A new study suggests that people who are diagnosed with the common cold virus have a significantly higher risk of heart attack within a week of diagnosis.

According to experts, in those seven days after being infected with the virus, the risk of a heart attack increases six times compared to a year before and after.

Experts said the research findings highlight the importance of the flu vaccination program and provide awareness to physicians treating flu patients about heart attack symptoms.

A team of Dutch researchers reviewed results from 16 laboratories in the Netherlands and compared them with mortality and hospital records. Between 2008 and 2019, laboratories confirmed 26,221 cases of the common cold.

In this group, 401 patients had a heart attack in the year before or after the flu episode, and some of these patients had more than one heart attack. A total of 419 heart attacks were recorded.

Of these 419 heart attacks, 25 occurred within seven days of a cold diagnosis, while 217 heart attacks occurred within a year before diagnosis and 177 within a year (excluding seven days) after diagnosis. were

According to the study, 139 patients (35 percent) died within a year of being diagnosed with a heart attack or other cause of the common cold.

According to the researchers, those affected by the common cold were 6.16 times more likely to have a heart attack within a week of diagnosis. While the risk of heart attack increased by 2.42 times in the first week after the death record was removed.