Heart health not impacted by daylight saving time: Study

What is the impact of daylight saving time (DST) on heart health? Does it improve the same? Scientists say they have found an answer to the same.

According to group of US scientists the impact of daylight saving time (DST) on heart health is likely to be minor.

Researchers employed a novel statistical methodology in the statewide study to hunt for connections between DST and important cardiovascular conditions such as heart attacks and strokes. 36,116,951 adults over the age of 18 from the majority of US states participated in the survey. (Hawaii and Arizona were not included because they do not use DST.)

The week that follows the spring and fall DST shifts, when clocks are moved forward or backward by one hour, was the focus of the research.

A total of74,722 adverse cardiovascular events were observed to have occurred during the study’s spring and autumn DST transitions. When a patient was admitted to the hospital with a primary diagnosis of cardiac arrest, cardiogenic shock, heart attack, or stroke, this was recorded as an adverse cardiovascular event.

“We looked at five years across the US, and what we found is that it’s unlikely that there is a clinically meaningful difference in cardiovascular health due to daylight saving time,” said Benjamin Satterfield, MD, PhD, a cardiovascular diseases fellow and lead author of the study.

“These cardiovascular events are common health conditions, so this led to the question of whether this is more than would be expected if this had not followed the daylight saving time transition,” said Satterfield.

The observance of daylight saving time varies around the world. Countries that move clocks forward or back one hour may do so on different dates, and some do not observe daylight saving time at all.

In the Mayo Clinic study, the Monday and Friday following the spring DST transition showed a statistically slight increase in the rates of cardiovascular events — but when looking at all the data, researchers did not see the rise as clinically significant, he said.

Researchers note that the time change practice was intended to align social and work activities with daylight hours and to conserve energy by using less artificial lighting. They underscore that making changes to the DST system out of concern for heart health is unnecessary.

“When decisions are made about whether to abolish daylight saving time, there is no need to take concerns regarding heart health into account,” said Bernard J Gersh, MB, ChB, DPhil, cardiologist and senior author of the study.

(With inputs from ANI)