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

An EKG and stethoscope.
(Image credit: iStock)

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.

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Catherine Garcia, The Week US

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.