Heart attack - warning signs

[Guest guest]

I saw this article on the BBC website this morning and

thought that the information would be useful to many

of us.

Many heart attacks 'not spotted'

More than 40% of heart attacks may go unrecognised by

sufferers, researchers have suggested.

In a study of more than 4,000 people, Dutch scientists

discovered a third of male heart attacks, and more

than half of female, were not spotted.

They believe women may be less likely to suspect an

attack as their symptoms tend to be less typical, for

example they may have shoulder not chest pain.

Details of the study are published in the European

Heart Journal.

But according to UK experts, monitoring has improved

since the research was conducted in the 1990s.

Women may hold back from reporting symptoms

Dr Boersma

The researchers, from Rotterdam's Erasmus Medical

Centre, focused on people who took part in a long-term

study on chronic disease.

All were healthy when they signed up to the study, and

all had at least two ECGs (electrocardiograms) during

its course.

The researchers examined this group for signs of heart

attacks which may not have been picked up.

Overall they calculated that nine heart attacks took

place for every 1,000 years of life among the study

group.

They found that at all ages between 55 and 80 heart

attacks were more likely to be spotted in men than

women.

Odd symptoms

Researcher Dr Boersma said it was likely that

most heart attacks that went unspotted did so because

they did not produce typical symptoms.

He said there were likely to be many reasons why heart

attacks - known technically as a myocardial infarction

(MI) - were less likely to be spotted in women.

" Men and women experience chest pain in different

ways.

" Women may sense shoulder pain instead of chest pain,

they may think they have severe flu that is taken a

long time to recover from, and those with an

inferior-wall infarction may complain of stomach pain.

" So women may hold back from reporting symptoms and

doctors may also be in doubt whether or not to

consider heart disease as a source of the complaints.

" It is also a problem that women and their doctors

have traditionally worried more about death from

breast and gynaecological cancer, than from heart

disease. "

Dr Boersma said that although the study was conducted

in the Netherlands the results were likely to be

equally applicable to any other developed country.

Progress made

Professor Weissberg, medical director at the

British Heart Foundation, said: " Doctors have known

for some time that certain patients, particularly the

elderly and those with diabetes, can suffer a heart

attack without knowing it.

" The Rotterdam study, which relied solely on ECGs,

suggests that unrecognised heart attacks may be more

common than was once thought, particularly in women.

" However, this study was carried out in the 1990s -

today we are much more vigilant in identifying

patients at risk of developing heart disease and

treating them. "

Professor Weissberg said regular ECGs could help

identify patients who have unrecognised heart disease,

and who might benefit from treatment.

" Still more needs to be done to raise awareness of the

signs of a heart attack.

" Knowing the symptoms and acting quickly could be the

difference between life and death. "

Story from BBC NEWS:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/1/hi/health/4708616.stm

Published: 2006/02/14 00:24:55 GMT

© BBC MMVI

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