Heart attack risk – how can you assess it yourself?
Your personal risk of heart attack should first and foremost be assessed by your treating family doctor or cardiologist (heart specialist). Nevertheless, there is the possibility, especially on the Internet, of carrying out your own risk calculation. The various websites calculate the risk based on different data.
These include your own age, because the older someone gets, the higher the risk of suffering a heart attack. Furthermore the blood pressure plays a major role. The higher the blood pressure values, the more likely a heart attack becomes.
Also the sex is an important factor in the risk estimate, because straight in younger years have men a higher heart attack risk than women. The blood lipid values also play an important role. HDL and LDL (both are cholesterol values) are important parameters. A high HDL value has a positive effect on the cardiovascular system, high LDL has negative effects. In addition, diabetes and active smoking increase the risk of suffering a heart attack.Most computers also ask about family history (i.e. whether a relative has already suffered a heart attack), since heart disease often has a genetic component.
Forerunners
A heart attack usually comes as a surprise, but in most cases an acute heart attack is preceded by the first signs of a heart attack, which are not perceived as such. Harbingers of a heart attack are for example unspecific abdominal pain, nausea, sleep disturbances, tiredness or dizziness. These symptoms can occur many weeks before the actual heart attack, but are often misjudged.
A typical sign of a heart attack is also a feeling of pressure or tightness in the chest, which usually occurs during physical exertion (e.g. climbing stairs). Pain in the left arm as a sign of a heart attack is also not uncommon. This unpleasant feeling in the chest, which is also described as a tight and oppressive chest pain or even a “pain of destruction”, is called angina pectoris.
Typically, an attack of angina pectoris lasts from a few seconds to a few minutes. If the attacks occur more frequently, become more intense or the chest pain lasts longer (15 to over 30 minutes), this is characteristic of a heart attack. However, not everyone experiences the symptoms triggered by a heart attack in the same way.
Some heart attacks cause no symptoms at all, only minor or atypical symptoms (so-called “silent heart attack“). These silent infarctions occur more frequently in diabetics and are rarely announced by unspecific symptoms. Prognosiss of a heart attack are often different alarm signals for women than for men.
Among the symptoms announcing a heart attack in women are severe shortness of breath, recurring nausea, vomiting and, in particular, complaints in the upper abdomen. These complaints are often misinterpreted as stomach problems. The so-called NAN rule can be an aid in recognizing heart attack symptoms in women: If inexplicable pain occurs in the area of the body between the nose, arm and navel that lasts longer than 15 minutes, an emergency doctor should always be called, as this can be a sign of a heart attack.
An increase in blood pressure can also be a harbinger of a heart attack, especially if typical symptoms such as chest pain, shortness of breath or blurred vision occur at the same time. The affected person often feels cold sweats and has cold and damp hands. Any slightest hint of a heart attack must be taken seriously, regardless of the type of symptoms, as sudden cardiac arrest can occur at any time without further notice.
