Heart disease

Poor Heart Health Linked to Alzheimer’s Risk

A new study links heart disease with increased odds of developing dementia.

Researchers found that artery stiffness — a condition called atherosclerosis — is associated with the buildup of beta-amyloid plaque in the brain, a hallmark of Alzheimer’s disease.

“This is more than just another example of how heart health relates to brain health. It is a signal that the process of vascular aging may predispose the brain to increased amyloid plaque buildup,” said lead researcher Timothy Hughes, from the department of internal medicine at Wake Forest University in Winston-Salem, N.C.

Plaque builds with age and appears to worsen in those with stiffer arteries, he said. “Finding and preventing the causes of plaque buildup is going to be an essential factor in the prevention of Alzheimer’s disease and extending brain health throughout life,” Hughes added.

Alzheimer’s disease is the most common form of dementia among older adults. The progressive brain disorder seriously affects thinking, memory and the ability to carry out daily activities.

The report, published March 31 in the online edition of JAMA Neurology, looked at brain images and arterial health of patients 83 and older.

Cardiologists and neurologists are starting to warm to the idea that heart health and brain health are not independent, but interrelated, said Dr. Kevin King, an assistant professor in the department of radiology at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center at Dallas and author of an accompanying journal editorial.

“I find the new direction to be satisfying in that it is a more holistic approach,” King said. “The invention of these cool new tools to directly image amyloid plaque while people are alive allows us to look at these interactions that have been very difficult to tease apart.”

But still more research is needed, he said, “into how chronic vascular disease impacts the brain and leads to dementia.”

For the study, researchers used PET scans to examine plaque development in the brains of 81 dementia-free elderly adults.

They also measured the stiffness of arteries by assessing the speed that blood moves through them — a process called pulse wave velocity.

Over two years, the percentage of patients with plaque in their brain increased from 48 percent to 75 percent. Moreover, the development of plaque was associated with increased stiffness of arteries, the research team found.

Dr. Sam Gandy, director of the Center for Cognitive Health at Mount Sinai Hospital in New York City, welcomed the study.

“One of the most important problems in clinical dementia is parsing out what role brain blood vessels play in the clinical status,” Gandy said. “This is a groundbreaking paper that promises to put us on an evidence-based course toward unraveling this mystery.”

“There is increasing evidence that arterial stiffness plays not just an important role in cardiovascular disease but also in cerebrovascular disease, impaired mental function and dementia in older individuals,” he said.

More research of the relationship between high blood pressure, high cholesterol, vascular disease, arterial stiffness and the development of dementia is needed, Fonarow said.

King noted that injury to the blood vessels in the brain may dramatically alter the onset and progression of Alzheimer’s disease.

“The implication of this study is that we may be able to prevent or at least delay Alzheimer’s disease by proper control of cardiac risk factors,” King added.
Reducing heart risks means eating a healthy diet, exercising, maintaining normal weight, minimizing stress and not smoking. These behaviors can help keep blood pressure and cholesterol at safe levels, experts say.

But much still needs to be learned about the association between heart health and brain health, King said. “A lot remains unknown about what changes in arteries may be leading to chronic brain disease. We just don’t know enough about blood flow to the brain.”

Source: webmd

Smokers may show heart disease much younger than nonsmokers

A smoker’s coronary artery disease is likely to be as advanced as that of a non-smoker who is 10 years older when both show up at the hospital with a heart attack, according to a new study.

Researchers looked at nearly 14,000 patients hospitalized with blockages in arteries supplying the heart muscle and found smokers were more likely than nonsmokers to die within a year.

Despite their being younger, and otherwise healthier, the smokers’ heart arteries were in a condition similar to those of nonsmokers 10 years older.

“We saw smokers presenting the disease at age 55 and nonsmokers presenting the same disease at 65,” said Dr. Alexandra Lansky, a researcher on the study.

Smoking can cause blood clots, which often get lodged in the rigid and narrow arteries that have already been clogged by the buildup of cholesterol and fat deposits, according to Lansky and her colleagues.

Although the fat buildup and stiffening of the artery walls, known as atherosclerosis, becomes more likely with age for everyone, the clots caused by smoking worsen the blockages.

That makes smokers more likely to have a heart attack at a younger age, but less likely to have the other conditions, known as comorbidities, that go along with aging, such as diabetes and high blood pressure.

“Smoking accelerates the manifestation of coronary disease but in the absence of these comorbidities,” Lansky told Reuters Health.

Past research has identified a “smoker’s paradox” – because smokers are younger, with fewer other health problems, when they had a heart attack, they were more likely to recover it. Or so it seemed.

“We wanted to look at longer-term effects of smoking rather just the short term effect,” Lansky said.

The researchers analyzed medical records for 13,819 patients, almost 4,000 of them smokers, hospitalized with chest pain or a heart attack caused by a blocked coronary artery.

The study team organized the data to match the smokers and nonsmokers by age, weight, comorbidities and other risk factors.

When compared to nonsmokers with similar overall health, the smokers were ten years younger, on average, and more likely to have already been treated with blood thinners – suggesting they had already experienced problems with blood flow.

Imaging of the coronary artery showed the smokers’ had atherosclerosis comparable to the nonsmokers ten years their senior, the researchers report in the journal JACC: Cardiovascular Interventions.

Before the adjustments for age and other health conditions, the smokers and nonsmokers were about equally likely to survive the first 30 days after hospitalization, and smokers were about 20 percent less likely to die within a year.

But once smokers and nonsmokers with similar health profiles were compared to each other, the smokers were 37 percent more likely to die within the first year.

“What makes it novel, is that we are showing that if you come in, your chance of survival is already reduced, as a smoker,” Lansky said.

The findings are not surprising, according to Dr. Robert Giugliano, a cardiologist at Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston.

“Nonetheless, the public does need to know that there is now even more evidence that smoking is bad for your health, accelerates the process of atherosclerosis (so smokers have heart and vascular disease on average 10 years early than non-smokers), and leads to worse outcomes compared to non-smokers of a similar age,” said Giugliano, who also teaches at Harvard Medical School.

Dr. Elliot Antman, also of Brigham and Women’s Hospital and Harvard, said it would be interesting to follow the patients for longer than a year to see what happened to survival rates among smokers who quit.

Antman was not surprised by the findings either. “I always suspected this was the case but it is nice to see the data,” he told Reuters Health.

“There just aren’t many healthy people in their 80’s who smoke regularly . . . if you want to live a healthy, long life, smoking stacks the odds against you,” Giugliano said.

Source: reuters

Home Remedies for Managing High Blood Pressure

Exercising 30 to 60 minutes a day can help bring down your blood pressure numbers by 4 to 9 mmHg. If you’ve been inactive for a while, talk to your doctor about a safe exercise routine. Start out slowly by walking or riding a bicycle. Gradually add moderate intensity activities to your routine. Not a fan of the gym? Take your workout outside. Go for a hike, jog, or swim and still reap the benefits. The important thing is to get moving! The AHA also recommends incorporating at least two days of muscle strength training a week.

Following the DASH diet (Dietary Approaches to Stop Hypertension) can lower your blood pressure by as much as 14 mmHg. The DASH diet consists of eating fruits, vegetables, whole grains, nuts, low-fat dairy, lean meats, and fish. Eliminate foods high in saturated fats, trans fats, and cholesterol, such as processed foods, whole milk dairy products, fatty meats, and fried food.

Slow Down On the Salt
If you have high blood pressure, keeping your sodium intake to a minimum is vital. The AHA recommends limiting your sodium intake to less than 1,500 mg of sodium a day. That’s a little over half a teaspoon. One teaspoon of table salt has 2,400 mg of sodium! Table salt isn’t the only culprit when it comes to high sodium; processed food and many restaurant dishes tend to be loaded with sodium. Consuming too much sodium can cause the body to retain fluid, resulting in a sharp rise in blood pressure.

Lose Excess Weight
Weight and blood pressure go hand in hand. Losing just five pounds can help lower your blood pressure. It’s not just the number on your scale that matters, but the number of your waist size. The extra fat around your waist, called visceral fat, is troublesome because the fat tends to surround organs in the abdomen, which can lead to health issues including high blood pressure. Men should keep their waist measurement to less than 40 inches, while women should aim for less than 35 inches.

Nix Your Nicotine Addiction
Studies show that smoking a cigarette can temporarily raise blood pressure 10 mmHg or more for up to an hour after you smoke. If you’re a heavy smoker, your blood pressure can stay elevated for extended periods of time. People with high blood pressure who smoke are at greater risk for developing dangerously high blood pressure. Even secondhand smoke can put you at increased risk for high blood pressure and heart disease.

Limit Alcohol
Drinking a glass of red wine with your dinner is perfectly fine and may even offer heart health benefits when done in moderation. Drinking alcohol in excess, however, can lead to many adverse health issues, including high blood pressure. What does drinking in moderation mean?

Stress Less
In this hurried, multitasking society we live in, it’s hard to slow down and relax. It’s important to step away from your daily stress and take a few deep breaths, meditate, or practice yoga. Stress can temporarily raise your blood pressure, and too much of it can keep your pressure up for extended periods of time. Try to identify what’s triggering your stress, such as your job, relationships, or your finances, and find ways to fix the problems.

Source: health line

Women Face Delays in Heart Attack Care: Study

Among young and middle-aged adults, men tend to receive faster hospital care than women for heart attacks and chest pains, a new study finds.

Anxiety appeared to be a key factor — women who appeared anxious upon admittance to the hospital tended to have delays in crucial care, the study authors found.

“Patients with anxiety who present to the emergency department with noncardiac chest pain tend to be women, and the prevalence of [heart attack or chest pains] is lower among young women than among young men,” the Canadian researchers said. “These findings suggest that [emergency-room staff] might initially dismiss a cardiac event among young women with anxiety.”

One heart expert wasn’t surprised by the findings.

“It has been shown in multiple trials that there are gender differences in the treatment of heart disease between men and women entering a hospital,” said Dr. Suzanne Steinbaum, director of women and heart disease at Lenox Hill Hospital in New York City.

“In younger adults, ages 18 to 55, this reality has also shown to be true,” she said. “When women enter a hospital, it is critical that this bias is eradicated.”

In the study, researchers looked at more than 1,100 adults aged 55 or younger treated for heart attack or chest pains — also called angina — at 24 hospitals in Canada, one in the United States and one in Switzerland. The median ages of the patients were 50 for women and 49 for men.

After arriving at the hospital, men underwent electrocardiograms (ECGs) within 15 minutes and clot-dissolving therapy within 21 minutes, compared with 28 minutes and 36 minutes, respectively, for women, the researchers said in the March 17 issue of the Canadian Medical Association Journal.

“Anxiety was associated with failure to meet the 10-minute benchmark for ECG in women but not in men,” said the researchers, led by Dr. Louise Pilote, a professor of medicine at McGill University in Montreal.

Digging deeper, the researchers found that patients with multiple heart attack risk factors and those with heart attack symptoms that were considered outside the norm also faced delays in care.

Steinbaum pointed out the incongruity of some of these findings.

“When analyzed, the women patients were sicker and were more likely to have diabetes, high blood pressure and a family history of heart disease,” she said. “With these multiple risk factors for heart disease, the likelihood of symptoms being heart-related are higher — yet they were not as expeditiously treated for a heart attack.”

“This delay in treatment is critical, especially in the setting of a heart attack, as death rates in patients who have multiple health problems is higher,” Steinbaum said.

Another heart specialist agreed.

“Since women often present with nontypical symptoms when having a heart attack, it is very important that physicians look at younger women, too, to make sure the symptoms they are having do not represent a developing heart attack,” said Dr. Lawrence Phillips, an assistant professor in the department of medicine at NYU Langone Medical Center in New York City.

“One of the most important take-home points from this study is the need to have an electrocardiogram early,” Phillips said. “An ECG is able to, in many cases, diagnose a heart attack as it occurs. By improving the rapidity of this test, we can start needed therapy earlier and, in doing so, save lives.”

Source: web md

Study To Test ‘Chocolate Pills’ For Heart Health

It won’t be nearly as much fun as eating candy bars, but a big study is being launched to see if pills containing the nutrients in dark chocolate can help prevent heart attacks and strokes.

The pills are so packed with nutrients that you’d have to eat a gazillion candy bars to get the amount being tested in this study, which will enroll 18,000 men and women nationwide.

“People eat chocolate because they enjoy it,” not because they think it’s good for them, and the idea of the study is to see whether there are health benefits from chocolate’s ingredients minus the sugar and fat, said Dr. JoAnn Manson, preventive medicine chief at Harvard-affiliated Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston.

The study will be the first large test of cocoa flavanols, which in previous smaller studies improved blood pressure, cholesterol, the body’s use of insulin, artery health and other heart-related factors.

A second part of the study will test multivitamins to help prevent cancer. Earlier research suggested this benefit but involved just older, unusually healthy men. Researchers want to see if multivitamins lower cancer risk in a broader population.

The study will be sponsored by the National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute and Mars Inc., maker of M&M’s and Snickers bars. The candy company has patented a way to extract flavanols from cocoa in high concentration and put them in capsules. Mars and some other companies sell cocoa extract capsules, but with less active ingredient than those that will be tested in the study; candy contains even less.

“You’re not going to get these protective flavanols in most of the candy on the market. Cocoa flavanols are often destroyed by the processing,” said Manson, who will lead the study with Howard Sesso at Brigham and others at Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center in Seattle.

Participants will get dummy pills or two capsules a day of cocoa flavanols for four years, and neither they nor the study leaders will know who is taking what during the study. The flavanol capsules are coated and have no taste, said Manson, who tried them herself.

In the other part of the study, participants will get dummy pills or daily multivitamins containing a broad range of nutrients.

Participants will be recruited from existing studies, which saves money and lets the study proceed much more quickly, Manson said, although some additional people with a strong interest in the research may be allowed to enroll. The women will come from the Women’s Health Initiative study, the long-running research project best known for showing that menopause hormone pills might raise heart risks rather than lower them as had long been thought. Men will be recruited from other large studies.

Manson also is leading a government-funded study testing vitamin D pills in 26,000 men and women. Results are expected in three years.

People love vitamin supplements but “it’s important not to jump on the bandwagon” and take pills before they are rigorously tested, she warned.

“More is not necessarily better,” and research has shown surprising harm from some nutrients that once looked promising, she said.

Source: Huffington post

Saturated fat advice ‘unclear’

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Swapping butter for a sunflower spread may not lower heart risk, say British Heart Foundation researchers.

Contrary to guidance, there is no evidence that changing the type of fat you eat from “bad” saturated to “healthier” polyunsaturated cuts heart risk.

They looked at data from 72 studies with more than 600,000 participants.

Heart experts stressed the findings did not mean it was fine to eat lots of cheese, pies and cakes.

Too much saturated fat can increase the amount of cholesterol in the blood, which can increase the risk of developing coronary heart disease.

Saturated fat is the kind of fat found in butter, biscuits, fatty cuts of meat, sausages and bacon, and cheese and cream.

Most of us eat too much of it – men should eat no more than 30g a day and women no more than 20g a day.

There has been a big health drive to get more people eating unsaturated fats such as olive and sunflower oils and other non-animal fats – instead.

But research published in Annals of Internal Medicine, led by investigators at the University of Cambridge, found no evidence to support this.

Total saturated fat, whether measured in the diet or in the bloodstream as a biomarker, was not associated with coronary disease risk in the 72 observational studies.

And polyunsaturated fat intake did not offer any heart protection.

Dr Rajiv Chowdhury, the lead author of the research , said: “These are interesting results that potentially stimulate new lines of scientific inquiry and encourage careful reappraisal of our current nutritional guidelines.”

The British Heart Foundation said the findings did not change the advice that eating too much fat is harmful for the heart.

Prof Jeremy Pearson, the charity’s associate medical director, said: “This research is not saying that you can eat as much fat as you like.

“Too much fat is bad for you.

“But, sadly, this analysis suggests there isn’t enough evidence to say that a diet rich in polyunsaturated fats but low in saturated fats reduces the risk of cardiovascular disease.

“Alongside taking any necessary medication, the best way to stay heart healthy is to stop smoking, stay active, and ensure our whole diet is healthy – and this means considering not only the fats in our diet but also our intake of salt, sugar and fruit and vegetables.”

Source: BBC news

Alzheimer’s disease may kill as many as cancer in US

Deaths from Alzheimer’s disease are under-reported in the United States and the most common form of dementia may be taking as many lives as heart disease or cancer.

Alzheimer’s disease currently ranks sixth among causes of death in the United States, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Heart disease is first, and cancer second.

But researchers reported in the journal Neurology, the medical journal of the American Academy of Neurology, that Alzheimer’s-linked deaths could be six times more common than thought.

“Alzheimer’s disease and other dementias are under-reported on death certificates and medical records,” said study author Bryan James of Rush University Medical Center in Chicago.

“Death certificates often list the immediate cause of death, such as pneumonia, rather than listing dementia as an underlying cause.”

For the study, researchers followed more than 2,500 people aged 65 and older who were tested annually for dementia.

A total of 559 participants developed Alzheimer’s disease during the course of the study, and the average time span from diagnosis to death was four years.

People aged 75 to 84 who were diagnosed with Alzheimer’s were also four times more likely to die than those without it.

One third of all deaths among those aged 75 and older were attributable to Alzheimer’s disease, said the study.

According to James, the findings would translate to an estimated 503,400 deaths from Alzheimer’s in the US population over age 75 in 2010.

That figure is six times higher than the 83,494 reported by the CDC based on death certificates.

“Determining the true effects of dementia in this country is important for raising public awareness and identifying research priorities regarding this epidemic,” said James.

Source: Channel news asia

 

Angry people ‘risking heart attacks

anger

Having a hot temper may increase your risk of having a heart attack or stroke, according to researchers.

Rage often precedes an attack and may be the trigger, say the US researchers who trawled medical literature.

They identified a dangerous period of about two hours following an outburst when people were at heightened risk.

But they say more work is needed to understand the link and find out if stress-busting strategies could avoid such complications.

People who have existing risk factors, such as a history of heart disease, are particularly susceptible, they told the European Heart Journal.

In the two hours immediately after an angry outburst, risk of a heart attack increased nearly five-fold and risk of stroke increased more than three-fold, the data from nine studies and involving thousands of people suggests.

The Harvard School of Public Health researchers say, at a population level, the risk with a single outburst of anger is relatively low – one extra heart attack per 10,000 people per year could be expected among people with low cardiovascular risk who were angry only once a month, increasing to an extra four per 10,000 people with a high cardiovascular risk.

But the risk is cumulative, meaning temper-prone individuals will be at higher risk still.

Five episodes of anger a day would result in around 158 extra heart attacks per 10,000 people with a low cardiovascular risk per year, increasing to about 657 extra heart attacks per 10,000 among those with a high cardiovascular risk, Dr Elizabeth Mostofsky and colleagues calculate

Dr Mostofsky said: “Although the risk of experiencing an acute cardiovascular event with any single outburst of anger is relatively low, the risk can accumulate for people with frequent episodes of anger.”

It’s unclear why anger might be dangerous – the researchers point out that their results do not necessarily indicate that anger causes heart and circulatory problems.

Experts know that chronic stress can contribute to heart disease, partly because it can raise blood pressure but also because people may deal with stress in unhealthy ways – by smoking or drinking too much alcohol, for example.

The researchers say it is worth testing what protection stress-busting strategies, such as yoga, might offer.

Doireann Maddock, senior cardiac nurse at the British Heart Foundation, said: “It’s not clear what causes this effect. It may be linked to the physiological changes that anger causes to our bodies, but more research is needed to explore the biology behind this.

“The way you cope with anger and stress is also important. Learning how to relax can help you move on from high-pressure situations. Many people find that physical activity can help to let off steam after a stressful day.

“If you think you are experiencing harmful levels of stress or frequent anger outbursts talk to your GP.”

source: BBC news

 

Excess sugar consumption from soda, results in cardiovascular death

A new study is warning that America’s love affair with sugary food and drink is also doubling our risk of a heart-related premature death.

While previous research has indicated that consumption of added sugars can negatively affect health, the new study — published in JAMA Internal Medicine — is the first nationally-representative study examining how added sugars affect rates of death from cardiovascular disease (CVD).

Unlike the natural sugars existing in fruits and some vegetables, added sugars are introduced to foods during their processing and preparation. Sugar-sweetened beverages like soda are the leading source of added sugar consumption in the U.S., followed by grain-based desserts, like cookies and cake.

For their research, study author Quanhe Yang, of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and his colleagues used national health survey data to examine how added sugar consumption affected rates of cardiovascular death among the population.

They divided the population into segments: those who consumed the least amount of added sugars – less than 10 percent of daily calories consumed – and those who consumed at least 25 percent of their daily calories from added sugar. Overall, they found that people who consumed the highest amounts of added sugars were more than twice as likely to die from cardiovascular disease.

“If you are consuming in the medium quintile, compared to lowest, you increase risk [of cardiovascular death] by 18 percent,” Yang said. “[But for] the fourth quintile versus the lowest quintile, the risk is [increased] 38 percent. So highest to lowest it is more than doubled.”

Though previous studies had indicated that consumption of added sugars was harmful to health, the researchers hadn’t expected to see such a large increase in risk of death between the highest- and lowest-consuming groups.

“It’s not entirely surprising because we already have emerging evidence to show high consumption of added sugar is linked to obesity and type 2 diabetes, hypertension and instance of CVD,” Yang said. “But what was a little unexpected is the appearance of risk is not linear, meaning when you have the higher consumption of added sugar your risk increases exponentially.”

Previous research has indicated that between 2005 and 2010, 10 percent of U.S. adults consumed 25 percent or more of their daily calories from added sugars. While recommended levels of added sugar intake vary, the CDC adheres to the 2010 Dietary Guidelines for Americans, which recommends limiting added sugar intake to 5 to 15 percent of daily total calories.

It’s still not fully understood why added sugars increases risk of CVD.

“There are different explanations why it increases cardiovascular disease, probably the higher intake of added sugar may play a role in multiple pathways,” Yang said. “Some studies suggest suggest it will increase your risk of hypertension, a leading risk factor of cardiovascular disease; [it will also increase] accumulation of fat in your liver and promotes dyslipidemia; it’s also associated with increase of the inflammation markers, so those are the possible mechanics but we do not know why at a certain point your risk [becomes] accelerated.”

Next, Yang and his colleagues hope to study how the risk of cardiovascular death changes among people who have made efforts to improve their eating habits, including lowering consumption of added sugars. They are also interested in studying the effects of added sugar consumption among children – and how that affects their risk of death and disease later in life.

Overall, Yang said he hopes people will start to pay more attention to the amount of added sugars in their diet.

“Our study shows most of us are consuming too much added sugar, and higher added sugar [consumption] is associated with increased risk of cardiovascular disease,” Yang said. “If someone can…[they should] read [food] labels to see how much added sugar is in there and try to choose the lowest added sugar and reduce consumption of sugar-sweetened beverages, which is number one contributor

Source: Fox News

10 things that happen during a heart attack

The number of people who suffer from heart disease is constantly on the rise. Many die due to heart attacks and doctors tirelessly tell you about the classic symptoms of the condition. But do you know what exactly happens inside your body and to your heart during a heart attack? Well, here is a look at a heart attack from your body’s perspective.

1. Most heart attacks happen because of a blockage in the blood vessels that supply the muscles of the heart. This blockage happens because of plaque (a sticky substance that is made of fats, cholesterol and white blood cells) buildup on the arterial walls of the heart

2. When this plaque gets disturbed it breaks up into a number of tiny pieces that then go an lodge themselves in various places.

3. Thinking that there is a threat to your blood vessel, your red blood cells and white blood cells go an attach themselves to the plaque (just like the would in the case of a wound). While this is a repair mechanism, these cells end up blocking the blood vessel.

4. Once blocked the blood flowing through the heart stops and can no more reach the other parts of the heart muscle. Because of lack of oxygen those parts of the heart muscle start to die.

5. Your body then realizing that the heart is not working properly goes into the ‘fight or flight’ mode. It sends signal to the spinal cord that the heart in trouble.

6. The spinal cord in turn sends a message to your brain which it interprets as pain in the jaw, left hand and chest – also known as referred pain

7. In an attempt to survive your body starts to sweat profusely (this is actually a very useful mechanism since it makes you look ill and people are more likely to take you to the hospital).

8. Your breathing also becomes labored as your heart can no longer supply your lungs with blood and oxygen, so it also stops functioning optimally.

9. Apart from the lungs the brain also gets affected and one starts feeling dizzy. This is when you are likely to collapse from lack of oxygen to the essential organs of your body.

10. The muscles of your heart that have been deprived of oxygen die. The sad part is that once a part of the heart muscle dies it can never be regenerated.

Incidentally when you suffer a heart attack, the first one hour from onset is the most crucial time and your life could be saved if you are given adequate medical care within that time. Doctors call this the ‘golden hour’ as it is the only time that dying muscle fibers, the rest of the heart and other organs can be salvaged.

Source: Health India