Are we treating heart attacks too late? Detect your risks before symptoms show up

Are we treating heart attacks too late? While patients can spend hours moving between healthcare facilities before receiving an ECG, detect your risks before symptoms show up Chest pain is still too often dismissed as acidity or stress.

Key points

• Heart attack symptoms are often mistaken for acidity, fatigue or stress, delaying the urgency this condition truly demands.
• Every day, individuals walk into hospitals throughout our country after the chest pain that they initially dismissed as acidity finally becomes unbearable.
• This is a pattern that quietly plays out again and again – patients losing precious time while their heart muscle quietly collapses.

What happened

Every day, individuals walk into hospitals throughout our country after the chest pain that they initially dismissed as acidity finally becomes unbearable. Patients need prompt diagnosis and treatment, but uncertainty, fear of medical costs and reservations concerning busy healthcare facilities can often lead to individuals delaying seeking care.

This is a pattern that quietly plays out again and again – patients losing precious time while their heart muscle quietly collapses. According to the Global Burden of Disease, 2021, heart disease is the most common cause of death in India, accounting for 28.6 lakh deaths annually. Moreover, we Indians develop heart disease almost a decade earlier than the global average. It means working-age adults, the breadwinners of their families, are increasingly the ones affected.

The bottom line

Taken together, the developments around are we treating heart attacks too late? Detect your risks before symptoms point to a situation that is still moving, and the coming days should bring more clarity.