Heart attacks are on the horizon – but most people ignore five warning signs

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According to estimates, around 65,000 people in Germany die from sudden cardiac arrest every year. It usually doesn’t come suddenly, but sometimes appears weeks in advance. Scientists name five warning signs that many people affected do not interpret correctly.

The first symptoms often appear four weeks before the heart attack.
Symptoms include chest pain and trouble breathing.

Around every third heart attack in Germany ends fatally. Because it often occurs so unexpectedly that any help comes too late. There are warning signals that appear hours, days or sometimes even weeks beforehand. Researchers from the American College of Physicians are convinced of this. Anyone who interprets the symptoms correctly can save lives.

The scientists collected information from people who had survived heart attacks. They asked those affected, their friends, family members and doctors about unusual symptoms that had occurred up to four weeks before the heart attack. Those surveyed mentioned the following signs particularly frequently:

Chest pain, difficulty breathing, heart palpitations, sudden low blood pressure and loss of consciousness, other symptoms such as nausea, stomach or back pain

Most symptoms became noticeable several weeks before the infarction and recurred 24 hours beforehand. Those affected should not simply accept such symptoms, but rather see a doctor as quickly as possible. In an emergency, this can mean the difference between life and death.

The “Annals of Internal Medicine” published the study results on its website.