In the 24 hours before a cardiac arrest, most victims experience a warning symptom. This differs between men and women.
- Cardiac arrest can be preceded by specific symptoms, 24 hours before its onset.
- In women, shortness of breath is the most common warning sign. In men, it is chest pain.
- Knowing how to identify these signs can improve care and reduce the risk of death.
Cardiac arrest is an extreme emergency. “If no treatment is provided in the minutes following cardiac arrest, the chances of survival are almost zero.“, warns the French Federation of Cardiology. To take care of it in time, you need to know the first aid procedures, but it is also essential to know how to spot the warning signs. Better detection of symptoms preceding cardiac arrest is the goal of a team of scientists from the Smidt Heart Health Institute at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in California. In The Lancet Digital Healththey explain having discovered that 50% of people who suffered a cardiac arrest had had a warning symptom in the previous 24 hours.
Cardiac arrest: symptoms that vary between men and women
The researcher and his team used databases to assess the frequency of certain symptoms before cardiac arrest. In addition to the frequency of these signs, they found differences between men and women. “For women, the most important symptom of sudden and impending cardiac arrest was shortness of breath, while men experienced chest pain., they note. These latter can “extend to the arms“, indicates the French Federation of Cardiologyand be accompanied by a feeling of oppression, tightness or even crushing.
American scientists also observed other signs of the cardiac event such as palpitations, epileptic-like activities and flu-like symptoms. According to the French Federation of Cardiology, among the female symptoms of cardiac arrest there is also nausea and stomach pain.
Spot cardiac arrest before it happens
According to Eduardo Marbán, director of the Smidt Heart Health Institute, this study paves the way for further prospective research that will combine all symptoms with other characteristics to improve the prediction of cardiac arrest. All this could even make it possible to detect the heart attack before it occurs. “Our results could lead to a new paradigm for the prevention of sudden cardiac death.”, estimates the lead author of the study Subject Chugh. In France, the survival rate for cardiac arrest is 8% at most. Around 40,000 people die from it every year.
