Get Fit to Ski or risk a Heart Attack

A report on the Telegraph website highlights the risk of not preparing for your ski holiday...

Research by Innsbruck University, studying 1500 patients admitted to hospital with heart symptoms during the past five ski seasons, has uncovered the following thought-provoking statistics :-

Dr Bernhard Metzler, associate professor of cardiology at the university, said: "Every year millions of tourists visit the Tyrolean Alps to participate in a variety of winter sports, each of which carries a certain risk of accident and injury.

"Sudden cardiac death accounts for a staggering 40 per cent of the total fatalities amongst winter sports tourists in the Austrian Alps and of these acute myocardial infarction (heart attack) is the leading cause."

In conclusion...

The authors recommended that people planning a ski trip should prepare carefully and gradually increase their regular physical activity. Once on holiday the time spent skiing should also be increased gradually, they said.

So get on yer bikes!

And that is just what i am doing at the moment

Does it say how many are MI's induced by trauma, of let's say,... an accident?

Also the incidence of cardiovascular problems and sudden MI make up about 40% of sudden death (acute illness) worldwide. The article seems to have cherry picked data to suit it's agenda.

Hardly a shocking revelation that acute cardiac conditions are a common cause of sudden death!
Whilst trauma and avalanches may take a few on the slopes there are not too many rapidly fatal conditions that are likely to cause sudden death.

I'm surprised it's not a higher percentage - after all relatively few people with other terminal or potentially fatal illnesses are able to ski.

I think if I went to Austria, you guys would have a heart attack

Ian Wickham wrote:I think if I went to Austria, you guys would have a heart attack

I had a murmur just reading your post.

I thought his post was a murmur!!