{"id":18055,"date":"2025-02-24T21:21:02","date_gmt":"2025-02-24T21:21:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/torontotribune.ca\/index.php\/2025\/02\/24\/snow-shoveling-tied-to-massive-spike-in-heart-attacks-at-ontario-hospital\/"},"modified":"2025-02-24T21:21:02","modified_gmt":"2025-02-24T21:21:02","slug":"snow-shoveling-tied-to-massive-spike-in-heart-attacks-at-ontario-hospital","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/torontotribune.ca\/index.php\/2025\/02\/24\/snow-shoveling-tied-to-massive-spike-in-heart-attacks-at-ontario-hospital\/","title":{"rendered":"Snow shoveling tied to massive spike in heart attacks at Ontario hospital"},"content":{"rendered":"


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Southlake Health\u2019s Regional Cardiac Program says it responded to double the usual number of heart attacks<\/a> last week, and doctors say it\u2019s linked to shovelling snow.<\/p>\n

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The Newmarket hospital confirmed that between Feb. 12 and 20, it saw 34 patients with heart attacks\u00a0linked to shovelling snow.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt certainly seemed like the volume was much greater than normal, and there\u2019s no question that it was linked to the weather,\u201d said Dr. Chris Overgaard, chief of the department of cardiac health at Southlake, the regional hub for emergent heart attack care servicing York Region and southern Simcoe County.<\/p>\n

He said this past week was the highest number of heart attack cases linked to snow shovelling he could recall in the last few years.<\/p>\n

While most patients were in their 50s to 60s, Overgaard said they did see some patients with other risk factors below the age of 40.<\/p>\n

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Overgaard pointed to studies that show that for every 10-centimetre increase in snowfall, there is a proportional increase in heart attacks.<\/p>\n

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A 2017 study in the Canadian Medical Association Journal found that heavy snowfall and shovelling after a snowstorm increases the risk of going to the hospital for a heart attack, especially for men.<\/p>\n

Jack Goodman, professor emeritus in the faculty of kinesiology and physical education at the University of Toronto, says people who suffer a cardiac event while shovelling snow have underlying heart disease and that the exertion acts as a trigger.<\/p>\n

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