Hospital admissions for heart attacks in New Orleans are three times higher than before Hurricane Katrina, according to research presented at the American Heart Association’s Scientific Sessions 2016.

In the months following the disaster, physicians remember having busy on-call nights in the cardiology department, but until now no research proved whether there was a real increase or not.

Investigators found that hospital admissions to Tulane Medical Center for heart attacks increased three-fold in the ten years post-Katrina, compared to two years before the storm hit.

Furthermore, patients were more likely to have other risk factors for heart attacks including, coronary artery disease, diabetes, high blood pressure, high cholesterol and smoking.

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