Experiencing pain in the chest before a heart attack can be all part of a very frightening experience, but new research in the area of cardio/hearth health has revealed that this pain may actually be a good thing.
Research has shown that patients who suffer from chest pain during the 24 hours prior to having a heart attack (otherwise known as preinfarction angina) tend to suffer from smaller heart attacks and have better cardiac function afterwards than those who suffer from heart attacks with no pain in the 24 hour period beforehand.
The research was published in the journal Circulation: Cardiovascular Interventions. The senior author of the study said that physicians are now recognising that patients who had this type of chest pain prior to their heart attach have better wellbeing afterwards than those who did not.
Research was carried out at the Minneapolis Heart Institute Foundation and is the first large study to look into the effects of preinfarction angina, as only a few small studies have ever been carried out in the past. Data from 1,031 patients who were admitting to hospital suffering from their first heart attack was looked at retrospectively, analysing whether the patients were suffering from chest pain in the period leading up to their heart attack.
It was found that around 30 to 40 percent of patients who suffered from a heart attack also reported that they had suffered from preinfarction angina leading the researchers to be able to study the outcomes for these particular patients in particular. They showed a correlation with a 50 percent reduction in the size of the heart attack in these patients and a greater chance of future wellness for these patients too.
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