Heart Attack Symptoms: Half Of Americans Don’t Know The Warning Signs

Despite an active awareness campaign on heart disease, about half of American adults still cannot identify if it is already happening to themselves or to a loved one. According to latest figures from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 94.9 percent know to call 911 if a heart attack is happening but many still do not when to do so.

The CDC asked adults if they knew the five common symptoms of a heart attack and only 50.2 percent were able to prove that they did as of 2017. While this is up from 39.6 percent n 2008, 50.2 percent is still a small chunk of the adult population, considering that heart disease is the number one cause of mortality in the U.S. In the country alone, somebody dies of a heart attack every 40 seconds.

According to the Mayo Clinic, the five common signs and symptoms of an impending heart attack are pressure, tightness and pain in the chest and arms that spread to the neck, back or jaw, abdominal pain and nausea, fatigue, cold sweats and sudden dizziness or lightheadedness. When you or someone is manifesting these, immediate treatment is crucial as the damage to the heart’s muscles worsens the longer any intervention is made. Calling 911 is the first step. Every year, around 790,000 Americans experience it, 210,000 of whom are second timers and 580,000 are first-timers.

The same CDC research also revealed that heart attack awareness is particularly low among the younger people, men, Hispanics and Asians. Those who have lower monthly incomes are also less knowledgeable about the signs and symptoms and even what to do. This highlights the need for the health department to realign its informational campaign to target specific sectors more. The CDC said this can be done through improvements in their efforts on the community and clinical levels.