Five More Causes of Heart Attacks that Might Surprise You

Here are five more triggers for heart attacks that might surprise you.

Inappropriate use of anti-inflammatory supplements

Fish oil is widely recommended for reducing inflammation to reduce the risk of heart attack. A minority of people, however, are actually more likely to have heart attacks if they take fish oil or other anti-inflammatory omega-3 essential fatty acids. These are people who suffer congestive heart failure.

Anti-inflammatory omega-3 essential acids reduce the inflammation that causes cells in the heart muscle to misfire. The remaining cells beat in steady rhythm, reducing the risk of atrial fibrillation, heart attack, and stroke.

People who have congestive heart failure, on the other hand, don't have enough healthy heart cells to pump blood throughout the body. Turning off "misfiring" cells in the heart muscle can reduce circulation to the point that blood clots can form. The people most likely to suffer undiagnosed congestive heart failure are those who take the type 2 diabetes drugs Actos or Avandia.

Descent from high altitude

People who have cardiovascular disease and healthy people alike have slower heart rates at higher altitudes. If your maximum heart rate is 180 at sea level, chances are it will be about 130 at 4200 meters (13,000 feet), whether you have heart disease or not.

When people who have heart disease descend from higher altitudes, however, their maximum pulse rates increase. Persons with a predisposition to heart attack may actually be at greater risk at the bottom of a ski slope than at the top, or at the end of a helicopter tour rather than while still in flight.

Diarrhea

Diarrhea depletes the body of fluids. When the volume of blood is significantly diminished, the heart has to work harder to pump the remaining blood to provide oxygen to every part of the body. The stress of dehydration brought on by diarrhea can lead to heart attack in the elderly and in people who have diagnosed or undiagnosed cardiovascular disease.

Air pollution

Some kinds of air pollution have surprisingly little effect on heart health. Ozone, sulfur dioxide, and particulate matter are not directly linked to elevated risk of heart attack. Carbon monoxide and nitrogen dioxide, however, are. Even if there are no obvious symptoms of toxicity after exposure to these gases, the risk of heart attack is elevated for several days after exposure. Typically heart attack occurs 1 day after exposure to the toxic gas.

Snoring

Not everyone who snores is at elevated risk of having a heart attack. When snoring and snorting are caused by the nighttime condition of oxygen deprivation known as sleep apnea, however, are at considerably greater risk of cardiovascular problems.

How could snorting and snorting through the night cause potentially deadly health effects? The answer is that any kind of interruption in breathing causes fluctuations in bloodstream oxygenation. If you were to measure the PulsOx (oxygen saturation) of someone who breathes normally while sleep, you would probably observe over 95 per cent saturation.

If you were to measure PulsOx of someone who has even a mild case of sleep apnea, you likely would see the oxygen saturation fall to 94, 93, or even less than90 percent after just a few seconds of lost breath. In people who have mild apnea, a few dozen events of breathlessness every night may cause oxygen saturation levels between 90 and 95 percent all night.

In people who have severe sleep apnea, more than 40 events of breathlessness every 60 minutes, oxygen saturation may fall as low as 70 percent. This forces the heart to work very hard to circulate oxygen to the brain and vital organs. The heart can work so hard that a kind of "charlie horse" leads to heart attack, or atrial fibrillation may cause a stroke.