Athletes risk heart attacks—cardiologist

Press, 2 April 1985, Page 4

Athletes risk heart attacks—cardiologist

NZPA-AAP Sydney A Sydney heart specialist has warned that some athletes risk heart attacks because they mistakenly think strenuous exercise makes them invulnerable. A visiting cardiologist at Sydney’s Prince Henry and Prince of Wales Hospitals, Dr Zelman Freeman, said regular strenuous exercise did not necessarily protect against sudden cardiac arrest. In an article in the “Medical Journal of Australia,” Dr Freeman said there was no evidence of regular exer-

cise preventing, slowing, or reversing the clogging of the coronary arteries with fatty material. , “In the current climate of opinion favouring exercise, it is salutary to remind ourselves that there is a further danger of athleticism — the myth of invulnerability,” Dr Freeman said. “Because athletes regard themselves as being physically fit, some of them may regard medical checks as unnecessary,” he said. He also warned that some doctors believed athletic

people must be healthy simply because they exercised. Consequently, symptoms of heart disease such as effort-related aches in the shoulder, numbness in the arm, and indigestion were often ignored. Dr Freeman suggested regular visits to the doctor and, in the case of people older than 35 years, visits to the cardiologist. He pointed to the recent cases of the American jogging guru, James Fixx, who died while he was running, and the late New South Wales Attorney-General, Paul Landa, who died while playing tennis. • He also cited the case of Vladimir Kuts, thd Olympic middle-distance gold medallist, who died of heart disease at the age of 48. However, it is not-all bad news fqr the super-active. “Athleticism frequently cultivates a sense of good dietary habits, weight control, the habit of non-smok-ing, and possibly controls mild hypertension, all of which, conventional wisdom suggests, may be valuable in the primary prevention of heart attacks,” Dr Freeman said.