Heart attack risk peaks at 10pm on Christmas Day – mistakes to

Instead, patients should have their lipid profiles measured later in the year when eating habits have returned to normal.

The journal Circulation, in 2004, suggests that holiday-induced delays in healthcare could play a more important role in producing the holiday spike in heart attacks.

Moreover, emotional stresses associated with holidays, respiratory illness, increased particulate pollution, and changes in diet and alcohol intake have all been considered as explanations.

Waqar Kahn, an interventional cardiologist in Houston, and an affiliate member at the Baylor College of Medicine noted: “The holidays are hard for older adults, who may not have as much social support as they did when they were younger, and thus feel lonely and isolated.”

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