HEALTH
Cardiologist at Mount Sinai in Forest Hills offers
heart health tips during American Heart Month
Dr. Sean Kotkin Photo courtesy of Mount Sinai
TIMESLEDGER | QNS.COM | FEB. 18 - FEB. 24, 2022 25
BY JULIA MORO
February is American
Heart Month and Mount Sinai
in Forest Hills is hoping
to spread awareness on what
patients need to know about
keeping their heart healthy.
Dr. Sean Kotkin, a cardiologist
at Mount Sinai,
said that the most important
takeaway for patients is
knowing that their routine
should consist of eating right
and exercising for at least 20
minutes a day.
Kotkin said having a diet
that emphasizes fruits, vegetables,
whole grains, fish,
chicken and avoiding red
meats and fried foods is crucial
to keeping your heart
healthy. On top of diet, physical
activity is important to
reduce heart complications,
according to Kotkin.
“We recommend about
two and a half hours a week
or 20 minutes a day to keep
your cholesterol in check
and keeping your blood pressure
down,” Kotkin said. “It
doesn’t necessarily mean
running a marathon but
walking to the grocery store
or taking an extra subway
stop and walking a bit further
is enough physical activity.
Heart disease refers to
several types of heart conditions,
the most common being
coronary artery disease
brought on by high cholesterol.
Kotkin said that people
should visit their doctor regularly
because heart disease
often has symptoms that may
go unnoticed.
Symptoms could include
heart palpitations, shortness
of breath, chest pain and
high excursion during normal
activities.
“If you’re not feeling well
or something’s not right, you
should check in with your
primary care doctor to learn
where to go from there,” Kotkin
said. “Things like high
blood pressure and cholesterol
— those are not exactly
things that you feel. The
longer it goes unnoticed the
more likely it is to develop a
problem. That’s why it’s important
to get screenings.”
According to Kotkin,
some risk factors are harder
to control, like genetics and
family history. But Kotkin
stressed the importance of
prevention and altering daily
life choices to avoid heart
disease.
“These are things in our
life we can change that contribute
to heart disease in
general and I think that’s
the most important thing to
focus on is preventing heart
disease before it happens,”
Kotkin said.
According to the Centers
for Disease Control and Prevention,
heart disease is the
leading cause of death for
men and women of most racial
and ethnic groups in the
U.S. In Queens County, about
173.4 people per 100,000 died
of heart diseases and 80 per
10,000 were hospitalized for
heart complications from
2016 to 2018.
Kotkin said that since
doctors now have the capability
of virtual Telehealth
visits, people should touch
base with their doctors regularly.
“Now that we have these
newer modalities, it’s important
that people don’t wait
too long,” Kotkin said.
If you’re not feeling well
or something’s not right,
you should check in with
your primary care doctor
to learn where to go from
there.
Dr. Sean Kotkin
/QNS.COM
