Study: Nearly half of all heart attacks in the U.S. are 'silent'


A new study found that 45 percent of heart attacks in the United States are "silent," with the people having them not experiencing typical symptoms like arm or chest pain.
The damage is the same, and Dr. Elsayed Soliman of Wake Forest Baptist Medial Center, the study's lead author, told NBC News that "because patients don't know they have had a silent heart attack, they may not receive the treatment they need to prevent another one." Heart attacks that go unnoticed can be detected later by electrocardiogram (EKG), and many people that have silent heart attacks wind up going to the hospital with subtle symptoms, like excessive fatigue or indigestion.
The team looked at the medical records of 9,500 middle-aged men and women in a heart disease risk study, and found nine years into the study, 317 participants had silent heart attacks and 386 had heart attacks that were immediately diagnosed. Silent heart attacks need to have aggressive treatment (lowering blood pressure and cholesterol levels, losing weight, stopping smoking), and people who have them are three times as likely to die of heart disease. The study was published in the American Heart Association journal Circulation.
Subscribe to The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
Sign up for Today's Best Articles in your inbox
A free daily email with the biggest news stories of the day – and the best features from TheWeek.com
Catherine Garcia has worked as a senior writer at The Week since 2014. Her writing and reporting have appeared in Entertainment Weekly, The New York Times, Wirecutter, NBC News and "The Book of Jezebel," among others. She's a graduate of the University of Redlands and the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism.
-
Nationalist wins tight Polish presidential election
speed read Karol Nawrocki beat Rafal Trzaskowski in Poland's presidential runoff election
-
Ukraine hits Russia's bomber fleet in stealth drone attack
speed read The operation, which destroyed dozens of warplanes, is the 'biggest blow of the war against Moscow's long-range bomber fleet'
-
Starving Gazans overrun US-backed food aid hub
speed read Israeli troops fired warning shots at the Palestinians
-
Israel's Western allies pull back amid Gaza escalation
speed read Britain and the EU are reconsidering allegiance with Israel as the Gaza siege continues
-
Trump drops ceasefire demand after Putin call
speed read Following a phone call with Russia's president, Trump backed off an earlier demand that Putin agree to an immediate ceasefire with Ukraine
-
Pro-EU centrist beats Trump acolyte in Romania vote
speed read The mayor of Bucharest, Nicusor Dan, defeated hard-right nationalist George Simion in the race for Romania's presidency
-
Kurdish PKK militia to disband for Turkey talks
speed read The Kurdistan Workers' Party will disarm after four decades of armed conflict with Turkey, putting an end to 'one of the longest insurgencies in the Middle East'
-
US, China agree to lower tariffs for 90 days
speed read US tariffs will fall to 30% from 145%, while China will cut its tax on US imports to 10% from 125%