Heart Attacks During Christmas Eve

According to the health research carried  out in  Sweden, Christmas Eve is the worst day of the year for heart attacks, researchers found, with risk rising nearly 40 percent. More specifically, research showed that most heart attacks hit around 10 p.m. that day.

The observational study analyzed the timing of 283,014 heart attacks reported to the Swedish coronary care unit registry between 1998 to 2013. Findings were published in the peer-reviewed medical journal The BMJ.

In Sweden, Christmas Eve is the main time for celebrating the holiday as people are most likely to see family, drink and eat together.

Researchers didn’t find an increased risk during sporting events or the Easter holiday.

People over the age of 75 and those with diabetes and a history of coronary artery disease were most likely to be among those having heart attacks.

“We do not know for sure but emotional distress with acute experience of anger, anxiety, sadness, grief, and stress increases the risk of a heart attack,” researcher David Erlinge at Lund University’s Department of Cardiology, told The Telegraph. “Excessive food intake, alcohol, long distance traveling may also increase the risk.”