A new study reveals that half of cardiac arrest sufferers exhibit a warning symptom 24 hours before the arrest happens. This warning symptom could vary between men and women.
Gender-Specific Cardiac Arrest Warning Symptoms
According to the study, the specific warning symptom varied for men and women. Among men, chest pain was more common. For women, shortness of breath was the predecessor.
The researchers also noted that seizure-like activity and sweating were observed among similar subgroups of both sexes.
Sumeet Chugh, M.D., who serves as the director of Smidt Heart Institute's Cardiac Arrest Prevention, explains that knowing the warning symptoms in order to perform triage for necessary cases could enable early intervention. This could also prevent the patient from imminently dying.
To examine the best predictors for cardiac arrest, the research team gathered community-based data from PRESTO study, which stands for Prediction of Sudden Death in Multi-Ethnic Communities, in California's Ventura County and the SUDS study, which stands for Oregon Sudden Expected Death study in Portland. The SUD study was initiated 22 years ago, while the PRESTO study was initiated eight years ago.
They examined symptom sets and individual symptoms that took place before the cardiac arrest. They then compared their findings to control groups that also sought urgent medical aid.
The PRESTO study revealed that 50% of the 823 individuals, who all experienced cardiac arrest as witnessed by an emergency medical practitioner or a bystander, had at least one warning symptom before the cardiac arrest took place. The SUDS study also displayed similar findings.
Eduardo Marbán, M.D., PhD, who serves as Smidt Heart Institute's executive director, explains that this is the first community-based research to examine the link between warning symptoms and cardiac arrest with the utilization of a comparison group that has EMS-documented symptoms that were recorded as part of emergency care routines.
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Prevention and Early Intervention of Cardiac Arrest
Chugh adds that the findings could enable a new paradigm for preventing sudden death due to cardiac arrest. They will proceed to supplement these sex-specific warning symptoms with further features, such as biometric measures, to enhance sudden cardiac arrest predictions.
Dr. Allen Jeremias, M.D, who serves as the director of St. Francis Hospital & Heart Center's Cardiac Catheterization Laboratory, explains that being able to identify the specific symptoms that show up before a vital incident and particularly observing the gender-specific variations carry crucial public health implications.
Should such results be translated to clinical applications, they could significantly boost patient outcomes by enabling timely medical attention and intervention. The findings are crucial for both patients and practitioners, as this could influence how medical practitioners and patients think about and respond to such symptoms.
Dr. Jeremias stresses the importance of educating patients of these sex-specific differences. He also notes that, regardless of gender, patients must be aware of the wide range of red flags and heart disease risk factors.
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