Setting clocks ahead 1 hour may accelerate cardiac events

A new study has revealed that setting clocks 1 hour ahead may accelerate cardiac events in some.

The study showed that moving the clock forward or backward may alter the timing of when heart attacks occur in the week following these time changes.

It was found that there was a 25 percent jump in the number of heart attacks occurring the Monday after people "spring forward" compared to other Mondays during the year, while there was a 21 percent drop in the number of heart attacks on the Tuesday after returning to standard time in the fall.

Amneet Sandhu, M.D., cardiology fellow, University of Colorado in Denver, said that the total number of heart attacks didn't change the week after daylight saving time, but the events were much more frequent the Monday after the spring time change and then tapered off over the other days of the week.

However, the limitation to the study is that it was restricted to one state and heart attacks necessitating percutaneous coronary intervention, therefore excluding patients who died prior to hospital admission or intervention.

This study has been published online in Open Heart.