Podcast Summary

I believe we can prevent heart attack. We can put in place strategies to reduce risk. We can literally plan to change your future. Welcome. My name is Dr Warrick Bishop and I'm a cardiologist, an author, a keynote speaker and CEO of the Healthy Heart Network. I'm all about trying to help people live as well as possible. for as long as possible and that includes heart attacks which impact Australia enormously. We're talking a heart attack almost every 10 minutes and over 20 people per day dying from a heart attack in Australia. That's on a backdrop of over 9 million people globally being impacted. The sad truth is many of these could have been averted if only we knew what to do. Well, this podcast is all about that. weight, blood pressure, cholesterol, general health and driving in it health literacy. I'm on a mission to help not just prevent heart attack but improve general health on a global scale. If you enjoy this podcast I would be honoured if you could give it a five star review and share it with your family and friends. It may even lead to saving someone you love. Hi, Warrick Bishop here and welcome to my podcast and videocast station. I really do appreciate you joining me and I hope you enjoy today's little spiel on getting out in the hot weather while you take your anti-platelets or your beta blockers. Now we know that anti-platelets and beta blockers are used for reduction of cardiovascular risk or event. But there is a question raised by a set of researchers who ask if being outside on hot summer days potentially could mitigate that protection or be problematic. They looked at patients taking either a beta blocker or antiplatelet or both. and noted that they appeared to have an elevated risk of heart attack, specifically on days when the weather turned out to be hot. In particular, they were looking at hot days over a previous 10 to 15 year period. The researchers wanted to let people know that the message was not that people should stop using these medications, but that to raise caution, that if you are at risk and you are on these medications, to keep an eye out for these very hot days. What they observed, and the study was based on cases in Germany, was that as the heat increased, there was an increased risk of people who were taking either antiplatelets like aspirin or clopidogrel or beta blockers. which are heart rate regulating medications, and these people's risk of heart attack seemed to increase. Well, they made this observation by comparing for all sorts of other variables. Their overall analysis looked at nearly 2,500 people over, well, a 10 to 15 year period. Interestingly, as they were able to make adjustments for other co-founders, They really came to the conclusion that on these very hot days, and we're talking days that were above the 95th centile for range at that time of year, over a 10-year period, that these patients with these medications seemed to be at increased risk related to the medications of their own. Now, you could say that the antiplatelet medication and the beta blocker were just a marker of... patients who were sicker and therefore at greater risk if they were outside during the heat. But the researchers wanted to sort of suggest that it was greater than that. And perhaps that the actual effect of beta blockers, which are the agents that block the sympathetic nervous system, the fight or flight response, that the action of these medications may be contributory. And mechanistically, or the way they suggested this happened, is that perhaps patients who were on beta blockers when outside during the heat didn't have the usual heat dispersion response because the beta blockers inhibited usual skin vasodilation and therefore heat dissipation and therefore could intensify heat gain. and lower blood pressure and cause other problems. So an interesting little spiel on aspirin and beta blockers. I think the take-home message here is if you are on these medications or anything related to you being at increased risk of cardiovascular event, then undertaking strenuous activity outside on a particularly hot day. Doesn't make a great deal of sense. How about you break up that activity with shade, rest, and good hydration. Well, there you go. A quick little note and reminder to look after yourself if you carry any of those risks or are on any of those medications. I hope you've enjoyed this little spiel. If you would like to ask any questions, drop us a note at info at drWarrickbishop.online. Same address. If you want to give us any suggestions for future podcasts, I'm going to wish you the very best. I hope you live as well as possible for as long as possible. Again, thank you so much for joining us. Take care and bye for now. Hi. Ever wondered what your risk of heart attack is? You should. It's the single biggest killer in the Western world. We're talking one death less than every 30 minutes in Australia. One death. less than every 60 seconds in the United States, 9 million deaths globally per annum. Well, how do you check your risk? Well, you can go to www.virtualheartcheck.com.au. You'll find out about your risk and what can be done beyond that to be even more precise.