In the United States, someone has a heart attack every 40 seconds. Every year, about 805,000 people in the United States have a heart attack. Of these, 605,000 are a first heart attack.
Coronary heart disease (CHD) is the leading cause of heart attacks. CHD is a condition in which the coronary arteries (the major blood vessels that supply the heart with blood) become clogged with deposits of cholesterol. These deposits are called plaques.
Each day, an average of 21 Australians die from a heart attack. One patient is admitted to an Australian hospital with a heart attack every nine minutes.
In men, the risk for heart attack increases significantly after the age of 45. In women, heart attacks are more likely to occur after the age of 50. A heart attack strikes someone about every 34 seconds.
Age. The majority of heart attack deaths occur in patients ages 65 and older, but a man's risk begins to increase at 45 (for women, it starts at 55).
Most heart attacks involve discomfort in the center or left side of the chest that lasts for more than a few minutes or that goes away and comes back. The discomfort can feel like uncomfortable pressure, squeezing, fullness, or pain.
It was rare for anyone younger than 40 to have a heart attack. Now 1 in 5 heart attack patients are younger than 40 years of age. Here's another troubling fact to highlight the problem: Having a heart attack in your 20s or early 30s is more common.
Heart disease—and the conditions that lead to it—can happen at any age. High rates of obesity and high blood pressure among younger people (ages 35–64) are putting them at risk for heart disease earlier in life.
Every year, 805,000 Americans have a heart attack, 605,000 of them for the first time. About 12 percent of people who have a heart attack will die from it. Coronary artery disease, a blockage of the arteries that supply blood to the heart, is the most common type of heart disease.
Checking your pulse
Taking a pulse is a very important part of heart health checks. It measures the number of heart beats per minute, assesses if the pulse is regular or not, and identifies the strength of the pulse. Your nurse or doctor may check your pulse, or you can check it yourself.
The primary reason is the prevalent sedentary lifestyle and unhealthy diet. Modern lifestyle ups the risk of heart attacks among the youth.
Mild heart attack symptoms might only occur for two to five minutes then stop with rest. A full heart attack with complete blockage lasts much longer, sometimes for more than 20 minutes.
When someone as fit as Bob Harper, personal trainer and host of “The Biggest Loser,” has a heart attack, it's a wake-up call for everyone. You can live an extremely healthy lifestyle and still have a heart attack.
The Effect of Anxiety on the Heart
Rapid heart rate (tachycardia) – In serious cases, can interfere with normal heart function and increase the risk of sudden cardiac arrest. Increased blood pressure – If chronic, can lead to coronary disease, weakening of the heart muscle, and heart failure.
Signs of a heart attack include:
- Pain or discomfort in one or both arms, the back, neck, jaw or stomach. - Shortness of breath with or without chest discomfort. - Other signs such as breaking out in a cold sweat, nausea or lightheadedness. (If you're experiencing any of these symptoms, call 9-1-1 immediately.)
With urgent treatment, most people will recover from a heart attack and can live fulfilling lives. Making healthful lifestyle choices and following the recommended treatment plan can reduce the risk of experiencing future heart attacks.
Pre-Heart Attack Symptoms – Female
Men may feel pain and numbness in the left arm or the side of the chest. In women, these symptoms may appear on the right side. Women may experience unexplained exhaustion, or feel drained, dizzy or nauseous. Women may feel upper back pain that travels up into their jaw.
Here's a surprising fact: nearly half of people who have a heart attack don't realize it at the time. These so-called silent heart attacks are only diagnosed after the event, when a recording of the heart's electrical activity (an electrocardiogram or ECG) or another test reveals evidence of damage to the heart.
Youngest person who we have seen has had a heart attack is a 17-year-old guy," says Dr Ruchit Shah, Interventional Cardiologist, Masina Hospital, Mumbai.
Symptoms and what it feels like
The symptoms of an NSTEMI heart attack may resemble a regular heart attack. They include : pressure-like pain in the chest that lasts more than 10 minutes. pain that radiates to either arm, neck, or jaw.
A silent heart attack is a heart attack that has few, if any, symptoms or has symptoms not recognized as a heart attack. A silent heart attack might not cause chest pain or shortness of breath, which are typically associated with a heart attack.
What time of day is a heart attack most likely to happen? “Most heart attacks hit during the early morning hours from 4 – 10 am when blood platelets are stickier, and there is increased adrenaline released from the adrenal glands that can trigger rupture of plaques in coronary arteries,” said Dr. Goodroe.