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Intense cold increases heart attack, stroke cases
Leading cardiologist Dr Mohammad Ahmad said the people should avoid cold water and they must cover themselves well if they have to go out. The people need to drink plenty of water, preferably lukewarm.
With the cold spell intensifying, cases of heart ailments and cardiac attacks have been steadily rising in Kanpur.
On Friday, 18 more people died at the Laxmipat Singhania Institute of Cardiology. Ten of them were brought dead and eight died during treatment, according to hospital authorities.
A day ago, 22 people had died of heart attack at this hospital. Fifteen
were declared dead by duty doctor upon arrival and seven died during treatment. Three others, two women and a man died of brain stroke at the LLR hospital.
In the past six days, 63 people have died of cardiac arrest and nine due to brain stroke.
Dr Vinay Krishna, director of LPS Institute of Cardiology, said the number of patients seeking medical attention had substantially increased this week.
“Today we had 773 patients in the hospital and 41 of them had to be hospitalised,” he said, adding that the hospital was getting 700 patients a day in the past six days.
Respite from the biting cold was not in sight as the day temperature was recorded at 12.2 degrees Celsius and minimum clocked 3.2 degrees Celsius. The conditions became severe because of winds at eight to 10 km per hour.
Leading cardiologist Dr Mohammad Ahmad said the people should avoid cold water and they must cover themselves well if they have to go out. The people need to drink plenty of water, preferably lukewarm.
Excess cold causes the arteries of heart to construct and blood flow increases significantly to keep the body warm. This causes the blood pressure to rise and the person has a heart attack. Apart from this, the cold could also cause clotting in heart veins, he said.
Weather scientist with CS Azad University for Agriculture and Technology Dr SN Pandey said a dark yellow alert had been sounded for January 7 and the cold day condition would continue to prevail till January 8. The change in wind direction had increased the possibility of dense fog, he said.
