American Heart Month with TidalHealth

SALISBURY, Md. – In this week’s Health Beat, brought to you by TidalHealth, WMDT spoke with interventional cardiologist Dr. Joseph Cinderella for American Heart Month.

February was first established as American Heart Month over 60 years ago after President Lyndon B. Johnson suffered a heart attack himself.

“Risk factors are pretty much the same for men and women,” Dr. Cinderella says. “And there’s traditional risk factors that we think of, would be high blood pressure, high cholesterol, diabetes, smoking and family history. You can’t really do anything about your parents and grandparents, but you can certainly work on your cholesterol and other risk factors.”

To lower risk of heart disease and heart attacks, the American Heart Association recommends 30 minutes a day of brisk physical activity. This includes going to the gym, riding a bike, or taking a walk around your neighborhood. Exercise helps improve heart health outcomes all around.

“The symptoms typically, most commonly would be chest pain, pressure, tightness [in] typically mid-central upper chest, left chest, jaw pain,” Dr. Cinderella describes. “Really anything from the ears to the belly button potentially could be heart.”

Women are historically viewed as having different risk factors and/or symptomatology as men, and subsequently their health issues can present later to physicians. The first Friday of February is when women in the hospital will wear red as a reminder of the underdiagnosis of women’s heart health.

“If you have worrisome symptoms — pain, pressure, tightness — don’t ignore it,” Dr. Cinderella says, instructing patients to call EMS in cases of an emergency.

If you’d like to learn more about the services offered at TidalHealth’s Guerrieri Heart & Vascular Institute, click here.