'Tis the season of the year when people can look forward to gifts, carols, tinsel-wrapped trees, candlelight services, family togetherness and ... keeling over with a coronary. That last fact was found in a bag of coal left under the tree by Swedish researchers. Their data suggest that the holiday ought to carry a prominent warning label from the surgeon general.
The scientists were involved in a study known as, believe it or not, SWEDEHEART _ a droll acronym for "Swedish Web System for Enhancement and Development of Evidence-Based Care in Heart Disease Evaluated According to Recommended Therapies." Their survey of 283,014 heart attacks recorded in Sweden between 1998 and 2013 led them to the unavoidable conclusion: Celebrating this festive occasion can be fatal.
The risk of a myocardial infarction rises by 37 percent on Christmas Eve, peaking at 10 p.m. _ just about the time frazzled parents and grandparents are wrapping those last presents, keeping an eye out for 5-year-old snoops and fretting about where to put the Elf on the Shelf. The heart attack rate is 29 percent higher than normal on Christmas Day _ and remains elevated on Dec. 26 (Boxing Day, as it's known in Sweden and other European countries).
