Cardiovascular disease is the leading cause of death in the United States, according to the CD — and nearly 50% of adults in the U.S. are suffering from some form of it. With such staggering statistics, finding new strategies to prevent and manage heart disease is a big need. One local doctor is contributing to this research through singing.
Dr. Jacquelyn Kulinski is a general cardiologist and an associate professor of medicine and cardiology at the Medical College of Wisconsin. She's been investigating the connection between singing and heart health since 2017, with a focus on older adults.
Kulinski's new study, funded by the National Institutes of Health, was just released this month. She joined Lake Effect's Audrey Nowakowski to share more about her research and findings. Overall, Kulinski says her team of MCW researchers found that sustained bouts of singing led to improvements in cardiovascular function. In particular, the study paid close attention to subjects' endothelial cells.
"We know that a short bout of exercise improves endothelial cell function, even 10 or 15 minutes of exercise," she says. "And so, I wanted to test that hypothesis using singing as an intervention, and then measuring endothelial cell function before and after singing."
Drawing on expertise from a handful of music therapists and two voice instructors from UW-Milwaukee and UW-Madison, Kulinski's team at MCW measured subjects' cardiovascular functions before and after 30 minutes of in-person and video singing lessons. As a control, they took participants' measurements from a 30 minute period of rest.
Sixty-five subjects participated in the study, Kulinski says — each with an average age of 68 years and a history of coronary artery disease. She says older heart disease patients are often resistant to traditional cardiovascular rehabilitation programs, which typically involve physical exercises that are difficult for patients dealing with arthritis, neuropathy or other limitations.
"This was the population that I think you know could serve to benefit the most from a different intervention, such as singing, which can be considered an exercise," she says. "And they can do it while they're seated, and so at least it's something compared to nothing."
Going forward, Kulinski hopes to see singing exercises incorporated into cardiac rehab programs, and she's working on further research into the health benefits of group singing for elderly.
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