A sudden "stabbing pain" in the chest for a few seconds, is it a sign of sudden death or a heart attack?

Have you ever had this experience: your chest suddenly "stabbed" for a few seconds, and then it was fine? At this time, you may wonder: What is going on? Is it a precursor to sudden death or a heart attack? Don't panic, today I will tell you in detail.

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People who are prone to sudden death have 4 things in common

Let's talk about sudden death first. Many people die from it every year. According to the "China Cardiovascular Health and Disease Report", there are as many as 550,000 patients with sudden cardiac death in my country every year, which means that every minute, someone may fall down from sudden death. However, sudden death is not completely traceless. A study published in "Chinese Emergency Medicine" in 2020 analyzed 5,516 cases of sudden death and found some patterns.

1. Emotion and fatigue are the two main causes

In cases where the triggering factors were recorded, emotional excitement and fatigue were the main factors, accounting for more than half of the cases. When emotional excitement occurs, a series of changes will occur in the body, which may induce myocardial infarction, arrhythmia, and lead to sudden death, and also affect the brain, lung and breast functions. Fatigue is like "boiling a frog in warm water", which slowly accumulates damage to the body and finally explodes.

2. Hypertension patients are at high risk

Among people with a history of sudden death, patients with hypertension account for a high proportion. Studies have found that the risk of sudden cardiac death in patients with hypertension at the age of 30 is 30% higher than that of ordinary people, and the higher the blood pressure, the greater the risk of sudden death.

3. Sudden cardiac death is the most common

Sudden cardiac death is the leading cause of sudden death, accounting for more than half of all deaths. Four minutes after cardiac arrest, brain cells will be irreversibly damaged. More than 10 minutes later, even if rescued, the patient may be in a vegetative state. Therefore, once sudden cardiac death occurs, emergency treatment must be completed within four minutes.

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4. Middle-aged people should be especially careful

The age group with a high incidence of sudden death is 31-63 years old. Middle-aged people face problems such as high social pressure and fast work pace. They are prone to staying up late, socializing, and irregular diet, which leads to "three highs" and increases the risk of sudden cardiac death.

Chest pain is not necessarily a sign of sudden death

So is a few seconds of chest pain a precursor to sudden death? Experts say that if you have occasional chest pain in an unfixed location and it goes away in a few seconds, you generally don’t need to worry too much, as it is probably not angina or coronary heart disease. This is because the pain caused by myocardial ischemia lasts for a long time and will not go away in a few seconds.

However, you should pay attention to these situations, as they may be signs of sudden death:

1. Abnormal sweating: Before a heart attack, you may suddenly sweat profusely on your back, scalp, palms, etc.

2. Chest tightness and shortness of breath: Without strenuous exercise, lack of sleep or illness, you may suddenly feel chest tightness and shortness of breath, which lasts for a long time.

3. Pain transfer: Pain in the shoulders, neck, chin, arms and other parts of a heart disease patient may be a manifestation of myocardial ischemia.

4. Accelerated heartbeat: The heartbeat suddenly speeds up for no reason. Once ventricular tachycardia occurs in this group of people, the risk of sudden death is higher.

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To prevent sudden death, stay away from these "heart-breaking" behaviors

The following things are the most harmful to your heart and should be avoided as much as possible:

Excessive stress: Being under stress and tension for a long time will increase the workload on the heart and easily induce heart disease and sudden death.

Improper eating: Overeating at night will increase the burden on the gastrointestinal tract, overload the heart, and easily lead to myocardial ischemia.

Vigorous exercise: can cause increased heart rate, sudden increase in blood pressure, and myocardial ischemia. Patients with cardiovascular and cerebrovascular diseases should pay special attention.

Straining too hard during bowel movements can increase abdominal pressure, blood pressure, and the burden on the heart, leading to angina pectoris and myocardial infarction.

Taking a bath for too long: In a high temperature environment, blood circulation speeds up, heart rate becomes abnormal, and poor air circulation can easily cause chest tightness and panic.

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