A few words | Why do myocardial infarctions affect young people, and how to rescue people who suddenly have a heart attack?

2021.1.3 Hot Topics:

The proportion of myocardial infarction in young and middle-aged people is increasing year by year. Compared with the elderly, myocardial infarction in young people usually has a rapid onset, severe symptoms, and often occurs suddenly without any signs or discomfort. It is easy to develop fatal arrhythmias and has a high rate of early sudden death.

What do you think of the scientific voices?

Niu Xiaobian: I heard that a young star died of a heart attack. He was killed by a heart attack at such a young age. He might have been fine just now, but he was gone in an instant. The people around him must be very sad.

Ice House Man: What exactly is a heart attack? What are the common symptoms?

Wang Lixing: Myocardial infarction is a sudden interruption of blood circulation in part of the myocardium. The blood supply stops suddenly like a power outage, and the myocardium is damaged because it cannot get enough oxygen. The patient's feelings will be different, and the most common ones are chest pain, chest tightness, palpitations, chest and back pain, and increased heartbeats.

Ice Otaku: These symptoms are quite common. How do I know if I or someone around me is having a heart attack?

Wang Lixing: Then call 120. This is the first principle. It is better to make a mistake than to let it go.

Editor Niu: As an enthusiastic citizen, I can definitely do this and enjoy helping others.

Wang Lixing: The real reason for calling 120 is that the golden time for rescuing acute myocardial infarction is only 120 minutes. If the process from onset to opening of the infarcted blood vessels can be completed within 120 minutes, the mortality and disability rates can be greatly reduced.

Ice Otaku: It’s really a race against time.

Wang Lixing: Yes, this is very serious. There are about 600,000 new cases of myocardial infarction in my country every year, and the mortality rate is more than 30%. Opening blood vessels by placing stents and thrombolysis to dredge blocked coronary arteries and allow the heart to regain blood supply is medically known as "early reperfusion therapy", which is also the key to reducing mortality. The ideal time to open blood vessels is within 120 minutes after onset. For every minute of delay, a large number of myocardial cells will die. In order to promote this knowledge, my country now designates November 20 as "Myocardial Infarction Treatment Day."

Niu Xiaobian: Do you need to perform artificial respiration while waiting for the ambulance?

Ice Otaku: Have you learned artificial respiration?

Wang Lixing: A typical myocardial infarction usually lasts for more than 30 minutes. If the patient is not unconscious and has a pulse, do not perform any operation blindly.

Bing Zhainan: Is it okay to give the patient aspirin or nitroglycerin or something like that?

Wang Lixing: This requires following the doctor's advice. It is not recommended to take medicine blindly, otherwise it may aggravate the condition.

Editor Niu: What about pinching the Ren Zhong point?

Ice Houseman: Pinching the Ren philtrum? Don't do that! It will block the patient's airway. There is no evidence that pressing the armpits or patting the elbows can be used for first aid.

Niu Xiaobian: You still have to call 120 to make time for the 120 minutes of golden rescue! In the future, if I encounter this kind of thing, I will only trust 120! I checked the data and found that there are about 600,000 new cases of myocardial infarction in my country every year, and the mortality rate is more than 30%. The age of onset of myocardial infarction in China has been significantly advanced. On the one hand, most of the patients with coronary heart disease in the past were elderly people in their seventies and eighties, and those around fifty years old were rare. But now, patients with coronary heart disease in their twenties and thirties are not rare, and those in their forties and fifties are very common; on the other hand, there are more and more young people with risk factors for myocardial infarction.

Ice Otaku: What are the specific risk factors for myocardial infarction?

Wang Lixing: This list is very long. High blood pressure, hyperlipidemia, and smoking are high-risk factors. In addition, there are abnormal sugar metabolism, too little exercise, insufficient intake of vegetables and fruits, mental stress, overweight, etc. In short, they are all preventable, but they require a complete change in lifestyle, such as staying at home too much, being too lazy, being too greedy...

Ice Otaku: Um... I didn’t know that smoking is a risk factor for myocardial infarction before.

Wang Lixing: The tiny particles contained in smoke can damage blood vessels and the heart.

Niu Xiaobian: Um... the news said that the characteristics of acute myocardial infarction in young people are rapid onset, severe symptoms, and high mortality. Is this true?

Wang Lixing: There is a pitfall here. Many people think that acute onset is sudden and cannot be prevented. In fact, the hidden danger has been buried long ago. Once a myocardial infarction occurs in young people, the degree of necrosis is often more thorough, which has a greater impact on the heart of young people and a higher recurrence rate. The hearts of elderly patients with myocardial infarction have formed certain adaptive mechanisms under the long-term "invasion" of coronary artery lesions.

Ice Otaku: I’m most afraid of sudden harm…

Wang Lixing: You need regular physical examinations... If you find high blood pressure, hyperlipidemia, abnormal glucose metabolism, etc., it's time to really sound the alarm. You must control your diet and move your legs.

Editor Niu: Today I learned two 120s, and I will always keep them in mind.

Ice otaku: Staying at home too much and not exercising enough are risk factors. I am a little panicked...