Heart attack

The average person waits 3 hours before seeking help for symptoms of a heart attack. Many heart attack patients die before they reach a hospital. The sooner the person gets to the emergency room, the better the chance of survival. Prompt medical treatment reduces the amount of heart damage. People who have angina are more likely to have a heart attack. Angina happens when the arteries to the heart become narrow and the heart muscle can’t get enough blood. This can happen when someone’s doing a physical activity but is even more of a concern if it happens at rest.

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Heart Attack
​How to Survive a Heart Attack When Alone
Heart attacks can happen any time. Learn to survive one even when you're alone, from the Department of Cardiology, National Heart Centre Singapore (NHCS).
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 HEART ATTACKS can happen any time. What to do when you're alone?
If you were to suffer a heart attack while in the company of people, calling out for help is probably the first instinctive thing you’d do. But what if a heart attack happened when you’re alone, would you likely survive it? The answer may surprise you.

Recognising symptoms of a heart attack

To know if you’re suffering from a heart attack, you first need to be able to identify its symptoms. Classical symptoms of a heart attack include:

Severe chest pain (like squeezing, or a heaviness, or pressing) at the central or left part of the chest, lasting usually for at least 20 min. The pain may also radiate to the left upper arm, neck or jaw.
Profuse sweating and a feeling of impending doom.
“About 90 per cent of heart attack sufferers experience the classical symptoms. However, the elderly, females and those suffering from diabetes may develop non-classical heart attack symptoms. These include shortness of breath, mild chest pain, nausea, vomiting and pain in the