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Written By: Editorial Team | Updated : November 20, 2013 3:28 PM IST
Chest pain, shortness of breath, dizziness, fainting and palpitations are some of the common symptoms that are observed in heart subsequent cardiac arrest sufferers. Most of these symptoms are observed between four weeks nad one hour before the cardiac arrest. According to a new study, signs of an approaching cardiac arrest could be spotted a month ahead of time. 'We're looking at how to identify the Tim Russerts and Jim Gandolfinis - middle aged men in their 50s who drop dead and we don't have enough information why,' said Sumeet Chugh, senior author of the study and associate director for genomic cardiology at the Cedars-Sinai Heart Institute in Los Angeles.
Patients can survive if they are given cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) immediately and their hearts are jolted back into normal rhythm with a defibrillator. Earlier clinical trials have focused only on symptoms or warnings signs within an hour of such attacks. But Chugh's study set out to determine whether signs and symptoms occurred as much as a month before sudden cardiac arrests.
Researchers went back and examined medical records of men 35 to 65 years old after they had out-of-hospital attacks. In addition, paramedics reaching the scene of fatal attacks asked family members what signs and symptoms the patient may have had in preceding weeks.
Among 567 men who had 'sudden' arrests, researchers determined 53 percent had symptoms beforehand. Among those with symptoms:
About 80 percent of symptoms happened between four weeks and one hour before the cardiac arrest, researchers said. And although most men had coronary artery disease, just half had been tested for it before their attacks. 'The findings were entirely unexpected,' Chugh said. 'We never thought more than half of these middle-aged men would have had warning signs so long before their cardiac arrests. Previously we thought most people don't have symptoms so we can't do anything about it.'
Chugh said most people who have the same kinds of symptoms don't go on to have cardiac arrests. 'Even so, they should seek medical care,' he said. 'The message here is, if you have these signs or symptoms, please don't ignore them: seek healthcare.' Chugh said he and his colleagues are also attempting to identify people at risk by comparing biologies of those that have had sudden cardiac arrests with sample populations in Portland that have never had cardiac arrests.
The new findings, from the 11-year-old 'Oregon Sudden Unexpected Death Study,' were presented on Tuesday at the annual scientific sessions of the American Heart Association being held in Dallas. The researchers are conducting similar studies among women.
The ongoing study is being funded by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, AHA and the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation.
What is a cardiac arrest?
It refers to the condition where the heart stops pumping blood and there is no blood circulation. A cardiac arrest is different from a heart attack in the sense that in a heart attack (myocardial infarction) the blood flow to the heart is impaired. It requires immediate medical attention and can be reversed in certain situations if treated quickly. Cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) to restart blood circulation followed by defibrillation (giving an electric shock) to restart the natural cardiac pacemaker is the usual procedure to deal with cardiac arrests.
Dr Vijay Surase tells us about some classic symptoms of a heart attack that we should watch out for:
Common signs of a heart attack:
Some women and people with diabetes do not have classic symptoms. Women usually have no severe chest pain, but a general weakness and discomfort. This leads to women ignoring the problem until late. Mostdiabetics develop atypical symptoms like profuse sweating or loss of consciousness during a heart attack which may be misinterpreted as symptoms of low sugar in the body. Sometimes heart attack is diagnosed during investigations like ECG or echocardiography even though you may not have had any history of chest pain. Such silent heart problems are a major challenge because they progress rapidly towards heart failure.
Other signs and symptoms of a heart attack include:
Women too have to be on the watch out because they don't experience the 'classic' symptoms of a heart attack. Some common symptoms in women are:
With inputs from agencies
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