Sudden Heart Attacks

Tm Russert’s tragic fatal heart attack did not appear to have any foreshadowing. According to the American Heart Association, more than 300,000 Americans die of heart disease without making it to the hospital each year; most of them from sudden cardiac arrest. Tragically, the heart attack itself is the first symptom in approximately half of those cases.

While the good news is that deaths from cardiovascular disease in general has dropped dramatically in recent years; however, the bad news is that cardiovascular disease claims more lives than cancer, chronic respiratory diseases, accident and diabetes combined.

Most sudden heart attacks occur when tiny pieces of plaque break loose and expand to form clots that block arteries. When that happens, blood doesn’t reach parts of the heart muscle and its begins to die. So even with all of the advances in managing and understanding the risks of heart disease, people who either don’t know they have heart disease, or who think it is under control have sudden heart attacks. In fact, about a third of people who have heart attacks don’t have the usual risk factors, such as family history of heart disease, abdominal fat, high blood pressure or high cholesterol.

So, what are some of the common signs of a heart attack. You may be surprised to learn that the signs of a heart attack are different for men and women.

According to the American Heart Association, the common heart-attack signs in men include:

• Pressure, fullness in chest that may come and go;
• Discomfort in arms, neck, back, jaw;
• Shortness of breath; and
• Lightheadedness

Common signs in women include:

• Sudden sweating;
• Shortness of breath;
• Nausea/vomiting; and
• Back or jaw pain.

Obviously, we want to assess the risk of having a heart attack before it happens. One of the issues to look out for is something called “metabolic syndrome”. Metabolic syndrome is characterized by a combination of conditions that occur together. This condition puts people at high risk for heart attack, stroke and diabetes. Smoking and heavy alcohol consumption also raise the risk.

According to the American Medical Association, a combination of the following conditions significantly increases your risk of heart attack:

• Waist more than 40 inches for men; 35 inches for women
• Blood pressure over 130/85mmHg
• Fasting glucose over 110 mg/dl
• Triglycerides over 150 mg/dl
• LDL cholesterol over 100 mg/dl
• HDL cholesterol under 40 mg/dl

While science has gained significant knowledge about the workings of the heart, researchers still have many unanswered questions, including what causes bits of plaque to rupture, the role of inflammation, the complex interplay of diet, vitamins and amino acids like homocysteine, and the size of cholesterol particles.

You can dramatically lower your risk of being a cardiac event statistic if you watch your weight, blood pressure and cholesterol. Keep your diabetes under control if you have it. Exercise, have a glass of red wine and take an aspirin every day, and eliminate meat.