Medicine has come a long way in the past couple of decades, but cardiac arrest is still something that kills thousands of people around the world.
So, if you could predict when it might happen to you or someone you love, I imagine we would all want to keep an eye out, right?
It turns out you could be able to do just that, since research shows that 50% of cardiac patients do display at least one physical symptom in the day before an attack takes place.
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That said, they could still be hard to spot – and be easily dismissed, if you’re so inclined.
For women, it’s shortness of breath. For me, chest pain.
Both genders can also experience seizure-like activity and abnormal sweating.
The study’s principal investigator, Summet Chugh, hopes their research will help save lives, as cardiac events are fatal around 90% of the time.
“Harnessing warning symptoms to perform effective triage for those who need to make a 911 call could lead to early intervention and prevention of imminent death. Our findings could lead to a new paradigm for prevention of sudden cardiac death.”
To get to these results, the team looked at data from two studies that included patients ranging in age from 18 to 85. They also looked at data from people who had the warning signs but did not go into cardiac arrest.
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They’re basing their statements about prevention on the statistic that people who call 911 before collapsing are five times more likely to survive.
“Warning symptoms hold promise for prediction of imminent sudden cardiac arrest but might need to be augmented with additional features to maximize predictive power.”
As ever, people who are tuned into their bodies and are able to understand (and heed) their warnings are going to be better off in the long run.
So maybe take some time to really get in touch with yours.