The French do not or little recognize the first symptoms linked to heart failure, which decreases their chances of survival. Here’s what you need to know.
“The first symptoms of heart failure are not recognized by the general public and by patients as related to heart failure, which contributes to delayed treatment”, worries the French society of cardiology.
According to a new study carried out among 5,000 French people, only “chest pain” is identified as a warning signal (by 72% of patients). The other symptoms are linked to this cardiovascular disease only by a minority, such as shortness of breath (44% of patients). Worse: edema and weight gain would only be associated with heart failure by about 6% of patients. As for “fatigue for no reason”, less than one in four citizens notice it. In the same study, only a third of the patients (37%) questioned consulted their general practitioner the month before their hospitalization.
The medical profession is also fishing on its side
However, shortness of breath, edema, weight gain and fatigue for no reason are symptoms that should prompt a consultation. Concretely, if you go up the stairs with someone your age, and at the end of the effort, you have difficulty breathing and not him, it is a red flag. Regarding edema (or swelling), check for example if your socks leave a significant mark on your ankles. If so, do not hesitate to talk to your doctor.
Especially since the medical profession is also fishing on its side. Once hospitalized, only 43% of patients say they have been informed by the medical team who took care of them in the hospital to be suffering from heart failure. Almost one in four patients thinks so “insufficient breathing“and nearly one in two patients say that the diagnosis of the disease was finally given to them by someone other than the healthcare team.
As underlined by Doctor Florence Beauvais, cardiologist at Lariboisière-Saint Louis hospital in Paris, it is therefore urgent “to better inform the general public about the symptoms of heart failure in order to promote diagnosis and rapid treatment. by treatments, whose effectiveness has been demonstrated. Many lives would be saved and significant costs linked to unnecessary hospitalizations could be avoided “.
1 death every 7 minutes
No less than 1.5 million French people are affected by this pathology, and 70,000 die each year, or 1 death every 7 minutes.
Heart failure is the inability of the heart muscle to perform its role of propelling blood through the body normally. It can arise in the course of a myocardial infarction, angina, or even hypertension. Its frequency increases with age.
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