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Many Americans wait two hours or more before they seek emergency care--putting themselves at risk for heart damage and death.
"It is during that crucial 60-minute window that clot-busting medication and other treatments are most effective," says Dr. Claude Lenfant, director of the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute. "Alarmingly, only one in five patients gets to the hospital soon enough to benefit from these treatments."
Warning signs of a heart attack may not match the sudden, crushing pain depicted in the movies--the so-called "Hollywood heart attack."
More subtle symptoms include mild pain or discomfort in the center of the chest; discomfort in one or both arms, back, neck, jaw, or stomach; shortness of breath; breaking out in a cold sweat, nausea, and lightheadedness.
Jean McSweeney, a professor at the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences in Little Rock, recently reported that most women recalled having early symptoms an average of six months before their heart attack.
The most common symptoms of heart disease reported by the women were fatigue, sleep disturbance, shortness of breath, indigestion, and anxiety.
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