A Taipei doctor yesterday cautioned people, particularly smokers, to dress warmly in the winter months, citing a 30 percent increase in emergency-room visits for heart problems related to the cold.
In one case, a 43-year-old man was rushed to the emergency room after experiencing tightness in his chest and cold sweats while exercising in the evening, Taipei Medical University Hospital emergency services director Kao Wei-feng (高偉峰) said.
“He was quite lucky. In half the cases, the patient’s heart stops completely when they have their first heart attack,” Kao said.
Photo copied by Wu Jen-chieh, Taipei Times
Emergency personnel in Taipei and New Taipei City responded to 37 calls involving cardiac arrest on Friday and Saturday, with 29 of those cases ending in death, information from the cities’ fire departments showed.
The majority of the patients were older than 60.
While cold weather alone cannot be blamed for the heart attacks, the elderly and those with pre-existing conditions are particularly at risk when temperatures plummet, as it causes veins and arteries to constrict, the Taipei City Fire Department said.
Smokers and those who have the so-called “three highs” — high blood pressure, high blood lipids and high blood sugar — are also more at risk of having a heart attack when temperatures drop, Taipei City Hospital Renai Branch emergency services director Chien Li-chien (簡立建) said.
Not only the elderly are at risk, Chien said, adding that everyone should dress warmly before going outdoors in winter.
Taiwan Hypertension Society director Wang Tzung-dau (王宗道) said it is not uncommon to see up to a 50 percent increase in the number of patients treated for a heart attack or stroke in winter.
The reason smokers in particular are at greater risk is due to the way nicotine contracts the veins and arteries, further exacerbating the effects of cold weather, he said.
Taoyuan Chang Gung Memorial Hospital deputy director Huang Chi-jen (黃集仁) said cases of influenza also increase in winter, which could easily lead to heart problems in those with the “three highs.”
China has reserved offshore airspace in the Yellow Sea and East China Sea from March 27 to May 6, issuing alerts usually used to warn of military exercises, although no such exercises have been announced, the Wall Street Journal (WSJ) reported yesterday. Reserving such a large area for 40 days without explanation is an “unusual step,” as military exercises normally only last a few days, the paper said. These alerts, known as Notice to Air Missions (Notams), “are intended to inform pilots and aviation authorities of temporary airspace hazards or restrictions,” the article said. The airspace reserved in the alert is
NAMING SPAT: The foreign ministry called on Denmark to propose an acceptable solution to the erroneous nationality used for Taiwanese on residence permits Taiwan has revoked some privileges for Danish diplomatic staff over a Danish permit that lists “Taiwan” as “China,” Eric Huang (黃鈞耀), head of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs’ Department of European Affairs, told a news conference in Taipei yesterday. Reporters asked Huang whether the Danish government had responded to the ministry’s request that it correct the nationality on Danish residence permits of Taiwanese, which has been listed as “China” since 2024. Taiwan’s representative office in Denmark continues to communicate with the Danish government, and the ministry has revoked some privileges previously granted to Danish representatives in Taiwan and would continue to review
More than 6,000 Taiwanese students have participated in exchange programs in China over the past two years, despite the Mainland Affairs Council’s (MAC) “orange light” travel advisory, government records showed. The MAC’s publicly available registry showed that Taiwanese college and university students who went on exchange programs across the Strait numbered 3,592 and 2,966 people respectively. The National Immigration Agency data revealed that 2,296 and 2,551 Chinese students visited Taiwan for study in the same two years. A review of the Web sites of publicly-run universities and colleges showed that Taiwanese higher education institutions continued to recruit students for Chinese educational programs without
The first bluefin tuna of the season, brought to shore in Pingtung County and weighing 190kg, was yesterday auctioned for NT$10,600 (US$333.5) per kilogram, setting a record high for the local market. The auction was held at the fish market in Donggang Fishing Harbor, where the Siaoliouciou Island-registered fishing vessel Fu Yu Ching No. 2 delivered the “Pingtung First Tuna” it had caught for bidding. Bidding was intense, and the tuna was ultimately jointly purchased by a local restaurant and a local company for NT$10,600 per kilogram — NT$300 ,more than last year — for a total of NT$2.014 million. The 67-year-old skipper
RSS