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Regis Philbin: The Famous Have No Immunity
Regis Philbin, co-host of "Live with Regis and Kelly," announced earlier this week that he is scheduled for bypass surgery. Apparently he's been experiencing some pretty typical heart disease symptoms, including chest pains and shortness of breath.
Heart disease, known in the medical community as coronary artery disease (CAD) does not escape the famous: Regis purportedly consulted with late night talk show host David Letterman, who underwent quadruple bypass surgery in 2000. Former President Bill Clinton had quadruple bypass surgery in 2004 and an interesting article at Medicinenet.com discusses the effect on society when a famous person announces that they have a particular health problem. It describes the "Clinton effect" in which many people, especially "baby-boomer" men, ran out to get a cardiovascular check up based on the amount of information in the media about CAD and its risk factors at that time. In many cases this may have saved their lives.
Regis has also done his part to increase cardiovascular disease awareness. He had a previous experience with CAD and required an angioplasty in 2003. Since he first developed heart disease Regis had been a spokesperson for the American Heart Association in an effort to increase awareness of the risk of heart disease for all men and women. He notes that his heart disease has progressed to the point where a repeat angioplasty wouldn't work, although he would have preferred its short recovery time to that of bypass surgery. He is expected to be away from his morning talk show for about 5 weeks to recover.
Take care,
Laurie
Related Topics:
Heart disease, known in the medical community as coronary artery disease (CAD) does not escape the famous: Regis purportedly consulted with late night talk show host David Letterman, who underwent quadruple bypass surgery in 2000. Former President Bill Clinton had quadruple bypass surgery in 2004 and an interesting article at Medicinenet.com discusses the effect on society when a famous person announces that they have a particular health problem. It describes the "Clinton effect" in which many people, especially "baby-boomer" men, ran out to get a cardiovascular check up based on the amount of information in the media about CAD and its risk factors at that time. In many cases this may have saved their lives.
Regis has also done his part to increase cardiovascular disease awareness. He had a previous experience with CAD and required an angioplasty in 2003. Since he first developed heart disease Regis had been a spokesperson for the American Heart Association in an effort to increase awareness of the risk of heart disease for all men and women. He notes that his heart disease has progressed to the point where a repeat angioplasty wouldn't work, although he would have preferred its short recovery time to that of bypass surgery. He is expected to be away from his morning talk show for about 5 weeks to recover.
Take care,
Laurie
Related Topics:
- WebMD Video: Wide Awake Heart Surgery
- WebMD Video: Heart Angioplasty and Bypass: Combining Procedures
Labels: bypass surgery, heart disease
