Hot weather and the heart

With dangerous heat conditions expected in parts of the Midwest and the rest of the country, experts warn that extreme summer heat can increase risk for stroke and heart attack and other cardiovascular issues. Some research suggests that deaths related to cardiovascular disease may double or triple when heat reaches extreme temperatures.

When the weather is really hot out, the heart has to work harder, says Samer Kazziha, M.D., an interventional cardiologist at Henry Ford Health. When the body gets overheated, it demands more blood with more oxygen from the heart to cool itself down. Hot temperatures mixed with poor air quality can also be a dangerous situation.

A study recently published in the American Heart Association’s Journal Circulation studied heart attack related deaths in a province in China from 2015-2020 and found that the risk of a fatal heart attack doubles during an extended heat wave, heat over 95 degrees lead to a 74% increase of dying of a heart attack.

Dr. Kazziha says that staying safe in the heat is a simple as being aware of the risk and doing simple things to minimize that risk.