Shoveling snow can put serious strain on the heart.
According to the National Institutes of Health, snow shoveling leads to about 11,500 injuries each year, including roughly 100 deaths.
As a record-breaking snowstorm swept across the southern part of the nation over the weekend, KBIA’s Najifa Farhat spoke with Dr. Kevin Oliver, a Boone Health emergency department physician, about how Missourians can stay safe and reduce their risk of heart attacks during winter storms.
This interview has been edited for length and clarity.
Najifa Farhat: So, I got some numbers from Boone ER this morning that the ED [emergency department] saw, like, 52 cardiac-related complaints and admitted 21 of them. Is that a regular scenario for you?
Dr. Kevin Oliver: That does seem a little higher than usual. The 52 — the 21 probably about like average, but 52 people coming in with cardiac-deleted symptoms, that's quite a few, yes.
Najifa Farhat: Do you think that might have, the weather could be a factor into it?
Dr. Kevin Oliver: Oh, absolutely.
Najifa Farhat: So, could you explain a bit, like, why shoveling snow is especially hard on the heart?
Dr. Kevin Oliver: Cold weather tends to cause those arteries to constrict, and when they crack, that just leads to a whole cascade of events that causes blockages in those arteries and causes heart attacks.
So, that is a classic thing when people get out and shovel snow and this particular snow is actually particularly bad because it's light. It's airy. People take it — “Oh, I can get that shoveled. It's really not bad," and so, they get out in the cold.
They're not straining as much as they might with heavier snows, but they're exposed to bitter colds and that could be as much, if not more of a problem.
The analogy I also use is you think of a garden hose. If you've got an old garden hose in the summer, it works fine. You can roll it up. But in the wintertime, that garden hose cracks and splits. And, unfortunately, that same thing tends to happen in the cold exposure.
Najifa Farhat: Are there any immediate signs or symptoms that people can understand that, “Oh, I'm having a heart attack”?
Dr. Kevin Oliver: Obviously, the tightness in the chest. Some of the things people don't realize would be nausea, aching in their neck or their shoulders. Those are classic signs that people don't pay attention to — particularly the left shoulder or the left arm.
That's always been a classic thing, but it's not always just one side or the other. It's usually the left shouder, the left arm. Or is can be both. Or it can be the upper back. It can be the upper chest and the front of the neck.
The jaw is a big situation where people have cardiac equivalence where they're actually having a heart attack and they're only complaining about their jaws.
Najifa Farhat: Which demographic is at the most risk of having heart attacks from snow shoveling?
Dr. Kevin Oliver: The big risk factors are diabetes, high blood pressure, high cholesterol, smokers, people with family history of heart disease — particularly young with, you know, mother and father had heart disease in their 50s or early 60s.
Or, unfortunately, just older people have potential risk factors.
Males, the male gender — particularly over age 50 is considered a risk factor for heart disease.
Najifa Farhat: People might still go shoveling if they have to. So, what kind of precaution should people take before shoveling snow?
Dr. Kevin Oliver: Well, it's beautiful outside, the sun is shining, but it's bitterly cold. And it's the cold that really gets you.
You really need to be aware if you are at risk for cardiovascular disease that you really need to take special precautions to avoid developing problems.
Be sure you're dressed appropriately, but, at the same time, if you can cover your face so that you're not breathing in the cold air, that tends to be helpful.
And obviously, be aware of cold-related exposures.
And you really need to be aware — if you have risk factors, you need to have somebody else shovel for you.
