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| June 28 | |
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Normotension and Heart Attack |
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Most people associate chest pain, jaw pain or left arm pain with symptoms of a heart attack. But a study published in this week’s Journal of the American Medical Association says one in three people having a heart attack don’t have the usual symptoms one might expect. Instead, they may have shortness of breath, sweating, sudden indigestion, or extreme fatigue. The study found that the people with these non-classic symptoms were more likely to have a delay in their diagnosis and be less likely to be treated aggressively. Compared with heart attack patients who had chest pain, a greater percentage of patients without chest pain died in the hospital. |
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Are there any specific groups of people who are most likely to have these unusual symptoms of a heart attack? Yes—in fact, what we’ve known for a while, is that women are less likely to have the classic heart attack symptoms, such as chest pain. So it’s especially important that women and their physicians recognize the signs of a heart attack—a recent study found that most women don’t recognize heart disease as a major risk to them, even though one of two women die of heart disease or stroke. Also, according to the study, people with diabetes or a history of heart failure may also have these unusual symptoms. And, the average age of those without the usual symptoms were older, with an average age of 74 years, vs. 67 for those with the classic symptoms. | |
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Reference and Resources:
JAMA. 2000; 283:3223-3229 American Heart Association |
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Blood Pressure Research Findings A risk factor for heart attack is high blood pressure. And now a new study suggests it might be harder to determine who has high blood pressure than we once thought. Most people have heard of the term ‘white coat hypertension’—blood pressure that shoots up at the doctor’s office. Now researchers have found that some people experience just the opposite. Almost one in four of the presumed healthy people they (researchers) studied had normal blood pressures at the doctor’s while their blood pressure rose as they went about their daily activities. If you are concerned about high blood pressure, you might want to go to a neighborhood pharmacy or grocery that has a blood pressure machine. Monitor the pressure over a period of days and write down the numbers to share with your doctor. | |
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Reference and Resources:
Archives of Family Medicine. 2000; 9:506-515 |
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