Credit score: Pixabay/CC0 Public Area
Hollywood has formed how many individuals think about a coronary heart assault—somebody clutching their chest and collapsing dramatically. However these portrayals are deceptive and should not be anticipated, says Ann Eckhardt, a nursing professor and researcher at The College of Texas at Arlington.
“We did ourselves a disservice in the 1980s and 1990s with what’s known as “The Hollywood Coronary heart Assault,'” Dr. Eckhardt said. “That is sadly not actual life. It isn’t at all times intense. Generally it is simply discomfort that does not really feel fairly proper, so individuals have a tendency to attend to see a physician. The longer you wait, the extra possible you might be to have destructive penalties after your coronary heart assault.”
Eckhardt and her colleagues are working to set the document straight by first understanding how the general public perceives chest ache. In a current article in Coronary heart & Lung, they discover the frequent misconceptions about coronary heart assault signs. Many sufferers do not expertise the dramatic, big-screen model of a coronary heart assault. As a substitute, signs may be complicated and even delicate. One other widespread delusion, the researchers word, is that coronary heart assaults look drastically completely different in males versus ladies.
“We used to say men have typical symptoms and women have atypical symptoms,” Eckhardt mentioned. “We’re trying very hard to move away from that language now. The most common symptom for men and women is chest-related. We created confusion by saying women are somehow completely different.”
Altering public notion is not straightforward, but it surely’s a mission that drives Eckhardt and her colleagues. Three years in the past, she helped develop the “Chest Pain Conception Questionnaire” to assist decide how on a regular basis individuals view coronary heart assaults.
The research revealed that almost 75% of respondents had consumed coronary heart assault info via sources like TV or motion pictures, highlighting the necessity for clearer, extra correct instructional supplies on chest ache and associated signs.
“We often tell people chest pain is a symptom of a heart attack, but what we don’t tell them is what they might actually feel,” Eckhardt mentioned. “For a lot of people, it’s not pain in the traditional sense. It’s more discomfort, pressure, tightness. They just don’t feel quite right, but they can’t really put their finger on it.”
That uncertainty usually causes individuals to delay searching for medical consideration.
“The longer you wait, the more likely it is you’ll have irreversible damage to the heart,” Eckhardt mentioned. “So, if we can determine what people think a heart attack will be like, perhaps we can help the medical community better triage and ask questions. It’s not just ‘Are you having chest pain?’; it’s also ‘Do you have any discomfort, pressure, tightness, squeezing?'”
Eckhardt is pushed to offer clear, correct messaging on the topic. It is a objective that has guided her all through her profession—she recollects being in center faculty when her grandfather was rushed to the hospital after a coronary heart assault. Luckily, he underwent a profitable bypass surgical procedure and lived for an additional 20-plus years.
“That experience sparked my interest early on,” Eckhardt mentioned.
Extra info:
John R. Blakeman et al, Gender variations within the public’s conceptions of acute coronary syndrome-related chest ache, Coronary heart & Lung (2025). DOI: 10.1016/j.hrtlng.2025.04.029
Offered by
College of Texas at Arlington
Quotation:
Coronary heart assault signs are complicated and delicate, not dramatic like motion pictures present, in accordance with research (2025, July 10)
retrieved 10 July 2025
from https://medicalxpress.com/information/2025-07-heart-symptoms-complex-mild-movies.html
This doc is topic to copyright. Aside from any truthful dealing for the aim of personal research or analysis, no
half could also be reproduced with out the written permission. The content material is offered for info functions solely.
