Symptoms can be severe or mild, and are often different from one person to the next. Some people may not even notice any warning signs of a heart attack.
A heart attack happens when blood flow to the heart is blocked or cut off. If there’s not sufficient oxygen-rich blood flowing to the heart, it can cause damage to the affected area. As a result, the heart muscle begins to die.
When your heart isn’t getting the blood and oxygen it needs to function properly, it can put you at a higher risk of heart failure and other serious complications.
A heart attack is a life threatening medical emergency. The sooner you can get medical treatment that restores normal blood flow to your heart, the better your chance of a successful outcome.
General symptoms for a heart attack can include:
Anyone experiencing any of the above heart attack symptoms should contact emergency services immediately.
Many people experience a mix of heart attack symptoms regardless of sex or gender. However, there are sex-specific differences in the presentation, biology, and outcomes of heart attacks.
A 2019 study found that chest pain was the most common symptom in both men and women. With women, the pain is often described as tightness, squeezing, or pressure in the chest, while men tend to describe it as a “heavy weight on the chest.”
According to the American Heart Association (AHA), women are somewhat more likely than men to experience the following heart attack symptoms:
Higher levels of estrogen can reduce the risk of a heart attack. As a result, women have a greater risk of a heart attack after menopause than before menopause.
However, women who have a heart attack are more at risk of underdiagnosis and undertreatment.
For example, a 2018 Swiss study found that women tend to wait longer to contact emergency services after experiencing typical heart attack symptoms. Researchers also found that women tend to experience greater delays in receiving treatment in emergency settings.
Researche has shown that people with diabetes are more likely to have silent heart attacks compared to people who don’t have diabetes. In other words, if you have diabetes, you may not experience the typical symptoms associated with a heart attack, especially chest pain.
Many studies have been done to better understand why people with diabetes are less likely to experience chest pain and other heart attack symptoms. One explanation is that the development of neuropathy — a type of nerve damage that’s a common complication of diabetes — may interfere with the ability to feel chest pain caused by a heart attack.
According to research, approximately 55 percent of people with diabetes have coronary artery disease. Having impaired blood flow in the coronary arteries is a major risk factor for a heart attack.
Because of this risk, it’s important that people with diabetes keep their blood sugar levels under control, get frequent blood tests to check cholesterol levels, and work closely with a doctor to ensure their diabetes is managed well.
Other causes of heart attacks include:
Several factors can put you at risk for a heart attack. You can’t change some factors, such as age and family history. However, you can make changes related to modifiable risk factors.
Modifiable risk factors that you can help control include:
Heart disease is the leading cause of death among most ethnic and racial groups in the United States and the most common cause of heart attacks.
It accounts for 23.7 percent of all deaths among white non-Hispanic Americans and 23.5 percent among Black non-Hispanic Americans, according to the CDC. Both figures are marginally higher than the overall population level of 23.4 percent.
If you’re over 65 years oldTrusted Source, your risk of having a heart attack is greater than people who are under age 65, according to the National Institute on Aging. This is particularly the case for women.
Also, if you have a family history of heart disease, high blood pressure, high cholesterol, obesity, or diabetes, you may have a higher risk of having a heart attack.
Doctors typically diagnose a heart attack after they perform a physical exam and review your medical history. Your doctor will likely conduct an electrocardiogram (ECG) to check your heart’s electrical activity.
An echocardiogram, which uses sound waves to create an image of the heart’s chambers and valves, can reveal how blood is flowing through the heart and what parts of the heart, if any, have been damaged.
Your doctor may also order a cardiac catheterization. This is a probe inserted into the blood vessels through a flexible tube called a catheter. It allows your doctor to view areas in and around your heart where plaque may have built up. They can also inject dye into your arteries, order an X-ray to see how the blood flows, and view any blockages.
Your healthcare team will likely also take a sample of your blood or perform other tests to see if there’s evidence of heart muscle damage.
A commonly used blood test checks for levels of troponin T, a protein found in the heart muscle. Elevated levels of troponin T in the bloodstream is associated with a heart attack.
If you’ve had a heart attack, your doctor may recommend a procedure (surgery or nonsurgical). These procedures can relieve pain and help prevent another heart attack from occurring.
Common procedures include:
Your doctor may also prescribe medications to treat your heart attack, including:
The timing of getting treatment is crucial with a heart attack. The sooner you get treatment after having a heart attack, the more quickly blood flow can be restored to the affected part of your heart, and the more successful the outcome is likely to be.
If you are with someone who’s experiencing symptoms of a heart attack, call emergency services immediately and follow the instructions they give you regarding what to do.
If the person isn’t responsive and doesn’t have a pulse, doing cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) or using an automated external defibrillator (AED) can be lifesaving.
Most businesses and many public places have AEDs, but if one isn’t present, CPR shouldn’t be delayed. Giving CPR can help pump oxygenated blood through a person’s body until emergency services arrive.
The sooner a person can get emergency medical attention, the less damage their heart muscle will likely sustain.
While there are many risk factors that you cannot control, there are some basic steps you can take to help keep your heart healthy. Here are few examples:
All of these steps are important in lowering your risk of developing heart disease and potentially having a heart attack. Talk with your doctor if you have concerns about your risk of a heart attack.
There are several tests that can diagnose whether you’ve had a heart attack. If the tests show you’ve had a heart attack, there are effective treatments that can help restore blood flow to your heart and minimize complications.
If you have any risk factors for a heart attack, talk with your doctor about steps you can take to lower your risk of a heart attack.
Sources:
https://www.healthline.com/health/heart-attack
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