Man dies of heart attack watching Avatar 2, cardiologists on what could have gone wrong

Sudden cardiac deaths are increasingly becoming common as people are dropping dead dancing in movies, driving vehicles and even during their wedding ceremonies.

According to media reports, a man from Kakinada district of Andhra Pradesh died of heart attack while watching James Cameron’s Avatar 2 with his younger brother. He collapsed in the middle of the movie and was declared brought dead when taken to the hospital. According to a study, watching movies with stressful scenes can trigger changes to the heart’s beating pattern. But can it cause sudden cardiac death? We asked experts.

SUDDEN CARDIAC ARREST DUE TO PRE-EXISTING ISSUES
“Heart attack can cause a cardiac arrest and patient can have sudden cardiac death also. Heart attack can be due to blockage in arteries especially when there are issues like high blood pressure, high cholesterol, sugar, heavy smoking, obesity, or bad genetics. So when you are not accustomed to some exercise regime and if you undertake sudden exercise routine like you do some weight lifting etc you can collapse. Especially after Covid, there is a continuing inflammation in our blood vessels.

Because of stress, increase in BP like what happened in this case, arteries of heart could have ruptured and that can cause sudden cardiac arrest,” says Dr Sanjeev Gera, Director and HOD – Cardiology, Fortis Hospital, Noida.

SUDDEN ARRHYTHMIAS CAN CAUSE HEART ATTACK
“When you have got risk factors, all these things can cause development of small blockages in heart arteries which under stressful conditions can rupture and cause heart attack. Cardiac arrest can be due to heart attack or rhythm disturbances too. There are some genetic conditions that can cause it. Whenever there is acute stress, mental stress, physical stress it can cause rhythmic disturbances. Sudden arrhythmias can cause heart attack. There is one condition called coronary dissection.