What Time of Day Is A Cardiac Patient Most at Risk?

Cardiac Death 

Sudden Cardiac Death is caused by ventricular fibrillation.  It is an electrical storm that causes the heart's chambers to beat erratically in such a way that blood flow to the brain and body is stopped.  It results in loss of consciousness and death unless lifesaving measures are employed.  Due to this electrical instability, an estimated 325,000 lose their lives annually in the United States.

Risk Hours

Health experts have known that the peak risk hours are range from 6 am to 10 am.  Now research may have found a link between the body's circadium (sleep/wakefullness) rhythms and the level of a certain protein that changes throughout the day.

Mukesh Jain, MD, of Case Western Reserve University, reported his findings of his studies in mice of a protein called KLF15, which helps regulate the heart's electrical activity, at the American Chemical Society convention.  He found that mice, and people, with low KLF15 levels are most susceptible to sudden cardiac death.

More detail can be found at:  www.eurekalert.org

Robert G. Tupac, DDS, FACP, Inc., Diplomate, American Board of Prosthodontics (661) 325-1275 | www.drtupac.com 5060 California Ave., #170, Bakersfield, CA 93309