As daylight saving time approaches, it's important to have your clock ready to "spring forward." But what might daylight saving time mean for your health?
A new study conducted by researchers from the University of Turku in Turku, Finland, found an increased risk of ischemic stroke with daylight saving time. However, the researchers noted that the risk is only during the early stages of the transition.
"Previous studies have shown that disruptions in a person's circadian rhythm, also called an internal body clock, increase the risk of ischemic stroke, so we wanted to find out if daylight saving time was putting people at risk," said study author Jori Ruuskanen, M.D., Ph.D., of the University of Turku.
Ischemic stroke remains the most common kind of stroke, accounting for about 87 percent of all cases involving the health problem. It's caused by an obstruction within a blood vessel that supplies blood to the brain.
During this recent study, researchers examined a decade's worth of data on stokes in Finland to determine stroke risk. They compared stroke rate in more than 3,000 people who were hospitalized during the transitional week into daylight saving time to a group of nearly 12,000 people hospitalized either two weeks before or two weeks after that week.
Ischemic stroke risk was about 8 percent higher within the first two days after a daylight saving time transition. However, after just two days passed into the transition, researchers found no difference in the risk.
In addition to the initial results, researchers also found that people with cancer were 35 percent more likely to have a stroke following daylight saving time than during another period of time, and individuals over the age of 65 were more likely to have a stroke right after the transition. However, no stroke-related hospital deaths increased following the transition into daylight saving time.
"Further studies must now be done to better understand the relationship between these transitions and stroke risk and to find out if there are ways to reduce that risk," said Ruuskanen.
The preliminary study will be presented April 15-21 at the American Academy of Neurology's 68th Annual Meeting in Vancouver, Canada.
