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Pubdate: Fri, 21 Jan 2000
Source: Daily Record and Sunday Mail (UK)
Copyright: 2000 Daily Record and Sunday Mail Ltd.
Contact: editors@dailyrecord.co.uk
Address: Anderston Quay, Glasgow, Scotland, G3 8DA
Website: http://www.record-mail.co.uk/rm/
That Monday hangover can be a killer
Under-50s Most At Risk
DOCTORS have confirmed what Scots always knew - Mondays are a real killer.
New research says the start of the working week, after a weekend of heavy drinking, is the day we are most likely to drop dead from a heart attack.
The records of more than 170,000 Scots who have died of heart disease since 1986 were examined in a massive study by the NHS in Scotland and researchers at Glasgow University.
The study found that the death rate was around 20 per cent higher on a Monday than on any other day of the week
Researchers fear that weekend binge-drinking followed by alcohol withdrawal is a prime cause of heart failure.
The stress of going back to work after a couple of days off could also be a contributory factor to the high Monday death rate.
It is the most common day of the week for anyone to die of a heart attack, male or female.
But those most at risk are people under 50 with no previous history of serious heart trouble.
Dr Christine Evans and a team from Glasgow University's Department of Public Health studied the records and published their findings through the British Medical Journal.
She said: "The possible link between binge-drinking and deaths from coronary heart disease has potentially important public health implications and merits further investigation."
Midweek days have the lowest death rates, while the Friday rate is above average for the under-50s.
Men up to the age of 65 also had a "highly significant excess" of Saturday and Sunday deaths.
But among long-term sufferers of heart disease, Monday did not have a significantly higher death rate.
The study was prompted by work done in the Russian capital Moscow where a similar study showed a massive rise in the number of fatal heart attacks at the weekend.
The research ties in with previous findings which show binge-drinking is much more harmful than regular, moderate drinking.
MAP posted-by: Allan Wilkinson
Daily Record and Sunday Mail (Scotland)
2000.01.21
