Emergency Outpatient Department About every third myocardial infarction diagnosis is wrong

Women receive twice as many false heart attack diagnoses as men
A heart attack is a dangerous event and can easily have fatal consequences for those affected. For this reason, it is particularly important that such a disease is recognized as quickly as possible. Researchers now found that nearly one-third of all heart attack patients get a wrong initial diagnosis. Especially women are particularly affected.

The scientists from Leeds University in the UK found in their study that heart attacks are often misdiagnosed. About one third (29.9 percent) of those affected initially receive an incorrect diagnosis. Women are twice as likely to be affected as men. The physicians published the results of their study in the journal "European Heart Journal Acute Cardiovascular Care".

A heart attack can have life-threatening consequences. That is why it is important to identify the disease immediately and clearly. But researchers found that there are extremely many misdiagnoses, especially in women. (Image: Syda Productions / fotolia.com)

Every year, in the United Kingdom alone, about 28,000 women die from a heart attack
In Great Britain alone, up to 28,000 women die each year as a result of a heart attack. For their study, the experts at Leeds University analyzed the British Register of Heart Attacks. They examined the data from approximately 600,000 heart attack patients in a period from April 2004 to March 2013. The study included 243 NHS hospitals in England and Wales. These clinics looked after patients between the ages of 18 and 100 years. The researchers discovered that 198,534 patients were initially misdiagnosed.

Timely diagnosis saves lives
An initial misdiagnosis can have critical clinical effects on the human body. These risks include the increased risk of death, says researcher Dr. Chris Gale. It is important to quickly diagnose a heart attack, as a timely heart attack diagnosis saves lives.

Two types of heart attacks:
There are two different types of heart attacks. ST-elevation myocardial infarction (STEMI) causes visible ST elevation on an ECG. Non-ST elevation myocardial infarction does not produce these typical signs of infarction. In the ECG, there are no typical longer-lasting ST elevations, say the experts. STEMI infarction blocks the main artery. In NSTEMI infarction, one or more arteries are partially blocked. This type of infarction is more common. Both types cause severe damage to the human heart muscle.

Special risks for women
In women with STEMI infarction, there were surprisingly many times a misdiagnosis. They had a 59 percent chance of being misdiagnosed. When women received a definitive diagnosis for NSTEMI infarction, there was a 41 percent chance of misdiagnosis, the authors explain. The risk of misdiagnosis is thus significantly increased for women. In addition, some women also have a higher disease risk. For example, physicians have already noted that, for example, women with migraine have a high risk of heart attack.

New heart attack tests are already in development
The difference in diagnosis is shockingly high, say the authors. But more effective heart attack tests are already being developed, which can help those affected in the future. More research is needed to enable earlier and more accurate diagnosis of a heart attack in women, the doctors add. Cardiologists hope that soon a simple blood test can predict a heart attack.

Symptoms of a heart attack
According to the National Health Service (NHS), the following symptoms indicate a heart attack:

• Chest pain, a kind of pressure sensation or a feeling of tightness in the middle of the chest
• Pain in other parts of the body. This pain can be felt, so whether the chest pain would occur in the arms, the jaw, the back and the stomach.
• dizziness
• sweat
• nausea
• breathlessness

Normally, the pain in the chest is relatively heavy. However, it is possible that women, the elderly and people with diabetes do not feel any of these symptoms, the researchers explain.

How to protect your heart
Through a healthy diet, we can protect our heart. For example, omega-3 fatty acids can significantly reduce our risk of acute heart attacks. These fatty acids are mainly found in fatty fish. Other studies have already shown that regular coffee enjoyment protects against serious heart damage. (As)