A recent study has unraveled a possible association between severity of heart stroke and the internal clock of the body.

For the study, a team of scientists probed the medical reports of over 800 patients suffering from a type of heart attack, ST elevation myocardial infarction, in the Hospital Clinico San Carlos in Madrid between 2003 and 2009.

After dividing the sample group into four groups on the parameter of occurrence of heart attack in 24 hours, the team observed that patients under the category of 0600 to midday were more prone to serious heart damage as compared to others following a heart attack.

Though there is a prevalent belief among the people that heart stroke usually occurs in early morning hours, most of the people are still unaware that occurrence of heart attack can significantly influence the extent of damage to the body.

With this research hitting the medical fraternity, study researcher Borja Ibanez, of the National Centre for Cardiovascular Research (CNIC) in Spain, asserted the need of hospitals to be well prepared with all medical facilities to deal with serious cases of heart attack in the early hours of a day.

Responding to the study, Judy O'Sullivan, Senior Cardiac Nurse at the British Heart Foundation, asserted that further research needs to be done to reveal a potential association between the internal clock of the body and severity of heart stroke.