Thousands of people die each year due to the dreaded heart attacks. But what if there was a precise signal that would help us know when we are close to suffering one? New research has found that a day before having a heart attack, people manifest a signal. Is this the way to save more lives in a definitive way?
All of us worry about having a heart attack. It usually comes unexpectedly and it is difficult to anticipate it. It scares us, because once we suffer it, our destiny is relegated to chance, with the possibility of surviving or dying. Therefore, if there was a way to anticipate the heart attack, it could be the answer to losing those fears.
A complicated investigation
Of course, you can imagine that a subject as complex as this is not easy to investigate. The team that has dealt with the work at Cedars-Sinai’s Smidt Heart Institute in Los Angeles, says that they have come to the conclusion that men and women show a different signal. However, in both cases they have come to see a clear manifestation indicating that, one day after their presence, the patient will have a high chance of suffering a heart attack.
The results have been recognized as a success because the number of people who show this sign is 50%, a really high figure that could help achieve this goal of saving lives. To present their results, the team has published a study in Lancet Digital Healthwhere they have detailed every last of their discoveries.
Anticipating the heart attack
As we indicated, men and women show a different signal. Men have chest pain that is easily noticeable and that occurs, as we indicated, a day before. For their part, women are faced with a problem that makes it difficult for them to breathe normally. In both cases, the study recommends taking it into account to act if in any case we can find ourselves in this situation and we are in an age and health group that is susceptible to suffering a heart attack.
At the same time, there are two signals with a lower presence, but which coincide in both groups. It is about starting to sweat in a more pronounced way than usual without any reason that justifies it, as well as having seizures. These results have also called for consideration by medical specialists who respond to patient calls or who visit health centers where they can detect heart attacks before they occur. Remember that 90% of the attacks that occur are fatal, so any possible preventive measure would have the possibility of improving survival figures.
The study has been carried out with a wide range of volunteers with ages ranging from 18 to 85 years. They have been able to verify that, in the case of the people who manifested these signs and who acted accordingly quickly, there has been a significant increase in the chances of survival. More precisely, they argue that, according to their data, it is five times more likely to survive than to die from a heart attack.
They also recognize that their research serves as a way to open a new paradigm in the way in which people at risk are supported and that they believe that it will be a good way to continue doing studies and discovering signs. It is possible that, in the future, something even more important will be discovered that could raise the survival rate even higher. It would not be bad at all taking into account, as we said, the fear generated by heart problems.
