Men Tend to Ignore Prior Warnings of Cardiac Arrest

Men who suffer from sudden heart attacks show early warning symptoms but choose to ignore them, a latest study reveals.

Various signs such as chest pain, shortness of breath, dizziness, faintness or heart palpitations occurring four weeks to  one hour before the cardiac arrest serve as warnings, according to the research presented at the American Heart Association's Scientific Sessions in Dallas.  

"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, Los Angeles.

For the study, the researchers analyzed data collected from  health histories of 567 men from Portland, Oregano. They were aged between 35 and 65. All the respondents experienced out-of-hospital cardiac arrests between 2002 and 2012.

The study results showed that 53 percent showed signs of cardiac arrest before the actual attack. Around 56 percent of the participants said they suffered chest pains and 13 percent experienced shortness of breath and 4 percent reported dizziness or heart palpitations. Almost 80 percent of the symptoms were experienced between four weeks to one hour before the sudden cardiac arrest.

In the US, around 360,000 out-of-hospital cardiac arrests cases are reported every year. According to Chugh, cardiac arrest can be tricky as there is little time to get medical assistance. "It's electrical chaos," he said, according to USA Today. "You'll die within 10 minutes of a cardiac arrest unless you are lucky enough to get emergency assistance quickly."