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Published: December 05, 2011 9:44 p.m.

Last modified: December 05, 2011 9:48 p.m.

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Shovelling: It’s not for the faint of heart.

When the next snow storm hits, think twice about grabbing that shovel to clear the walk.

Especially if you are male, inactive, have a weak heart, and smoke.

In a recent study, researchers at Queen’s University in Kingston, Ont., looked back over the medical records of 500 people with heart problems who arrived in the winter-time at Kingston General Hospital (KGH) Emergency room.

The team found that 35 (seven per cent) of these patients had noticed their first symptoms while shovelling snow. It may not sound like a huge percentage, but in medicine it is very significant, says Dr. Adrian Baranchuk, associate professor of medicine at Queen’s University and a cardiologist at KGH, lead author of the study.

He guesses there are plenty more people who didn’t mention they were shovelling snow when their symptoms started. Of the 35 who developed problems while shovelling, 31 were male.

“The group at highest risk is men with family history of heart attacks or cardiovascular disease,” says Baranchuk.

“You’re also in the highest-risk group if you have coronary artery disease and you smoke.” If you’re a woman and you have no family history of coronary artery disease, you are at low risk, he adds.

An earlier Harvard University newsletter describes how problems develop. Sudden physical exertion, such as shovelling, can put a big strain on the heart and make blood more likely to clot.

When a clot forms inside a coronary artery, it can block blood flow to part of the heart.

Deprived of their supply of oxygen and nutrients, heart muscle cells begin to shut down, and then die. This is a heart attack.

The Queen’s University study was published in the journal Clinical Research in Cardiology.

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