Testing Heart Health
A study from Spain looked at climbing stairs as a simple and inexpensive way to assess heart health. It was conducted to examine the relationship between a common daily activity – stair climbing – and results of more formal exercise testing in a laboratory. The patients who participated had been referred for exercise testing because they had experienced symptoms such as chest pain or shortness of breath during exertion, signs of known or suspected coronary artery disease. First, while being monitored, they walked or ran on a treadmill, going faster and faster until they were exhausted. After a 15-to-20-minute rest, they were asked to climb four flights of stairs without stopping (and also without running). The researchers reported that 58 percent of the patients who required more than 1.5 minutes to climb the stairs had abnormal heart function during the treadmill test. Only 32 percent of those who climbed the stairs in less than one minute had abnormal heart function on the treadmill. Study leader JesĂşs Peteiro, M.D., a cardiologist at University Hospital A Coruña, Spain said the idea was to find a “simple and inexpensive method of assessing heart health. This can help physicians triage patients for more extensive examinations.”
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Source:
Jesús Peteiro, M.D. “Test Your Heart Health by Climbing Stairs,” Study Presented at European Society of Cardiology Congress, December 11, 2020, escardio.org/The-ESC/Press-Office/Press-releases/Test-your-heart-health-by-climbing-stairs
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