Hockey and Cardiovascular Health

Featuring Dr. Brett Heilbron, MD, FRCPC, Cardiologist

Duration: 1 minute

An issue that comes up quite often is the middle-aged weekend warrior who goes out and does very strenuous exertion on the weekend but spends most of the week behind a desk.

A number of issues come up, including the risk of a cardiovascular event, and sometimes events do occur unexpeectedly. What happens is that individuals drop on the ice with no prior warning or very little prior warning of any heart disease.

I think we're moving towards a phase where we're diagnosing heart disease much earlier. We're not waiting for individuals to come into the emergency room with a problem but we're finding out who's at risk and who's not and modifying the risk factors before the event rather than after.

It's important for the individual to keep in touch with their health care provider and become aware of their blood pressure, their cholesterol, and their blood sugar level and see what can be done to minimize the risk of an event.

Presenter: Dr. Brett Heilbron, Cardiologist, Vancouver, BC

Local Practitioners: Cardiologist