Heart attacks can happen at early age
10 September, 2012
Rome: Ernie Bender was lean and athletic; he skied and walked a lot, and would go snowshoeing every Wednesday with his friends. A golf course superintendent, he lived in Vail, Colorado, with his wife and three sons.
One evening in 2000, he and his buddies decided to snowshoe up Vail Mountain and ride the gondola down. Bender complained of indigestion on the way up, which was odd because his last meal had been lunch. He told his friends he needed to sit down before getting on the gondola. After the group got in the cable car, he lost consciousness.
Bender was not a smoker and only drank a glass of wine every now and then. His blood pressure was always fine. His physician had told him that his cholesterol was fine, too, but that he might need to watch it, his wife, Kim Tofferi, remembers.
But despite appearing healthy, Bender died of a heart attack at age 47. "We did not see that coming at all," Tofferi said. "That was a tough one -- just when Dad was starting to become a good male role model for (their sons)."
Heart attacks may seem like a senior citizen phenomenon, considering that about 82% of people who die of coronary heart disease are at least 65, according to the American Heart Association. But sudden heart problems can occur much earlier in life, too.
Actor Michael Clarke Duncan died Monday at age 54, having never recovered from the heart attack he suffered on July 13. Sage Stallone, son of actor Sylvester Stallone, recently died of atherosclerosis, a condition that brought on a heart attack, according to the Los Angeles County coroner. He was 36.
Heart attack risk goes up in men older than 45 and women older than 55, but it can happen even earlier. While lifestyle modifications help reduce risk -- eating a healthy diet, maintaining good blood pressure and normal weight, not smoking -- sometimes it's not enough.
Family history is a big risk factor that can't be changed. Bender's father had a triple bypass surgery more than a year before Bender's death, Tofferi said. And men are more likely to have heart attacks than women.
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