Duration of Chest Pain Increases Risk of Heart Attack

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention shows that about 600,000 people die of heart disease each year in the United States alone. That's as many as 1 in 4 deaths due to the problem. Heart disease is also the leading cause of death for both men and women.

A recent study by researchers at the Henry Ford Hospital looks at specific symptoms to look out for when a patient may be experiencing health issues leading up to a heart attack. Their study shows, in fact, that longer-lasting chest pain is more likely to create conditions in which a heart attack can fester than pain felt over shorter periods of time.

 "Patients can experience varying strength, location, and duration of chest pain," James McCord said, via a press release, M.D., a cardiologist at Henry Ford Hospital on the research team. "The variety of symptoms any one patient may experience during a heart attack is a challenge to the physician who is trying to distinguish between patients who are having a heart attack and those who are not."

"Although an electrocardiogram (ECG) and cardiac markers in the blood are important in the evaluation of patients with a possible heart attack, they are not 100 percent accurate," he added. 

Researchers examined records of patients, specifically looking at possible heart attack information via the emergency department at the Henry Ford Hospital from January and May of 1999. Only patients who experienced chest pain for longer periods of time and had 30-day follow-up information available were selected, with 426 participants included in the study.

Results showed that less than 9 percent had a final diagnosis of heart attack, with the average chest pain duration lasting around 120 minutes compared to 40 minutes in patients who did not experience a heart attack. It's also noted that in patients with chest pain lasting less than five minutes, no heart attacks or deaths were reported during the 30-day follow up.

"These findings suggest that patients with chest pain lasting less than five minutes may be evaluated as an out-patient in their doctor's office; while patients with chest pain greater than 5 minutes, without a clear cause, should seek prompt medical evaluation in an emergency department," McCord said, via the release. 

What do you think?

More information regarding the study can be found via the September issue of Critical Pathways in Cardiology.