Beware! `Silent` heart attacks may increase risk of death by three times: Research

Zee Media Bureau

New York: Heart diseases and heart problems, that can also sometimes be fatal, have become prevalent in the present era when junk food, sedentary lifestyles, et al, are all the rage.

The most common cause of death among the world are heart attacks. Medical professionals the world over, have always emphasized upon the symptoms of heart attacks, like chest pain, shortness of breath, cold sweats, etc.

Now, however, a research has found out something about heart attacks that are actually scary. The fact that nearly half of all heart attacks may not have any symptoms at all!

Termed silent heart attacks, it occurs when blood flow to the heart muscle is severely reduced or cut off completely.

The worst part – yes, there is something worse than this – is that the risk of dying from heart disease increases by three times in case of a silent heart attack.

"The outcome of a silent heart attack is as bad as a heart attack that is recognised while it is happening," said Elsayed Z. Soliman, director of the epidemiological cardiology research centre at Wake Forest Baptist Medical Centre, in the US.

Silent heart attacks are usually detected when patients undergo an electrocardiogram (ECG) -- a process to check heart's electrical activity.

"Doctors need to help patients who have had a silent heart attack quit smoking, reduce their weight, control cholesterol and blood pressure and get more exercise," the researchers noted in the paper published in the journal Circulation.

(With IANS inputs)