Heart Attack vs. Cardiac Arrest

How to spot, and what to do

You’ve heard the terms “heart attack” and “cardiac arrest,” but do you really know what they mean?

Each describes a life-threatening cardiac event but understanding the difference could help you save someone’s life.

“A heart attack is a plumbing issue — an artery that brings blood to the heart is blocked,” says physician Lorna Fitzpatrick, vice president medical affairs and senior medical director at Excellus BlueCross BlueShield. “Victims are usually conscious, and while they need medical attention quickly, an electrical charge from an automated external defibrillator (AED) may not be needed because often, the heart is beating and the victim is breathing.”

According to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), signs that someone is having a heart attack include chest pain or discomfort; feeling weak, light-headed, or faint; pain or discomfort in the jaw, neck, or back; pain or discomfort in one or both arms or shoulders; and shortness of breath. Other symptoms of a heart attack could include unusual or unexplained tiredness and nausea or vomiting. Women are more likely to have these other symptoms. Anyone experiencing one or more of these symptoms should seek medical attention immediately.

“Cardiac arrest, also known as sudden cardiac arrest, is an electrical issue that occurs when the heart’s electrical system malfunctions,” says Fitzpatrick. “Without warning, the victim collapses and stops breathing.”

The heart is electrically active but is unable to beat in a regular rhythm, and therefore unable to pump blood to the brain or other organs.

Medical attention is needed immediately, or the victim will die.

According to the American Heart Association, more than 350,000 Americans outside of hospitals die each year from sudden cardiac arrest, meaning they were stricken at home or while out in public.

“Cardiac arrest can sometimes

Does COVID-19 suppress other diseases?

be reversed if CPR is immediately performed, and an AED is used within minutes to shock the heart into stopping its chaotic rhythm,” says Fitzpatrick. “You never know where or when it will occur, which is why it is vital to have as many people as possible trained in CPR and have AEDs available in places where people gather and also participate in athletic activities.” the scientific process.”

Many AEDs issue spoken commands. If the device detects a shockable rhythm, it will provide voice instruction on how to deliver an electrical charge. If it doesn’t detect a shockable rhythm, it will not allow a shock to be administered. In the absence of any cardiac electrical activity, CPR offers the only chance for survival until medical professionals arrive.

Fitzpatrick urges everyone to take CPR training where they’ll also become familiar with using an AED. To find a CPR class near you, visit RedCross.org, or the American Heart Association website at Heart.org.

Talking COVID

“Nobody wants to talk about COVID anymore. But we still need to talk about COVID. You’re right; we are not ‘post’ COVID. Thankfully we are in a situation right now where we have much better tools than we had years ago. We have antivirals; we have vaccines that help prevent deaths. So we do have tools at our disposal that should hold off future crises,” she said.

“The problem we have right now is that people aren’t — high numbers of people — aren’t taking advantage of the tools. We know that individuals who are older than 65 are at highest risk of dying from COVID and people with compromise immune systems.

But only one in four people older than 65 in the United States have gotten their up to date booster, she pointed out.”

That’s “a huge, huge gap — a lot of preventable disease and death,” she stressed.

“We know that people older than 65 who get COVID get boosted. So there is a huge opportunity for where we could prevent death and sever disease — people need to be taking advantage of it,” she said.

COVID prevents COVID?

“I’ve heard that a lot. I’ve heard that even from people in my family. That is not true. It’s safe to say at this point now that anybody who is not up to date with their boosters is at risk,” she said. “I know people who are vaccinated back in early 2021 and have not been boosted. I’d say they are at risk as well. Anybody who’s not up to date is at risk.”

New data shows that people who had some COVID and never were vaccinated — the next time they get COVID, they are at much higher risk of getting severe disease and dying, she added. Those people in particular need to go out and get vaccinated, she said.

“That’s an important question, because certainly we are all struggling under this burden of respiratory viruses that we’re seeing now — COVID, influenza and RSV [respiratory syncytial virus] and it’s a big problem. It’s a big problem for everyone — health systems are being stressed and overwhelmed right now,” she said. “The easiest answer and probably the most honest answer is: we don’t quite know. We don’t know for sure what was the impact of the restrictions that we had in terms of mask wearing, schools being closed down … did it set us up for this triple epidemic?

It is possible that we know that viruses can interfere with each other, compete, so maybe the high amounts of COVID we’ve had set up some sort of biological environment where adults got less RSV. But we don’t really know.”

RSV seems to have peaked, but they’re seeing a lot more than they usually see, she added.

“What we’re seeing coming up right now, the big concern is, flu. Flu cases here are much higher than in the past 10 or more years. It started earlier in the season than normal and it’s rising at a faster rate than we’ve normally seen,” she said. “We are concerned that it will continue to rise and a situation like that overwhelms our emergency rooms. So, we are in the midst of a big problem. COVID cases in other parts of the state, other parts of the country, are going up. Right now our cases are higher than where they were at over that last few years — but cases, knock on wood, seem somewhat stable right now.”

Promoting good health

“That’s a really important question because if we look at our community and where we hope to make the biggest impact it would be in more preventive care —preventing chronic diseases making sure folks have health maintenance [access to care], everything they need to stay healthy,” she said. “So, for me it starts with things like making sure everybody has access to a primary care physician and get routine health care checkups, healthy food, healthy neighborhoods. The biggest thing would be to get a primary care physician and follow up with them regularly. Live a healthy lifestyle including exercise and make sure they arte up to date on their vaccines.

The expectation is she work 35 hours a week. “It’s easily that or more. But it’s been wonderful work, important work,” she said. “I really enjoy the natural beauty around the Syracuse area — hiking and being outside. I spend a lot of time with my kids and that brings me a lot of joy. My family is rather musical. My husband plays music and I sing with him, sometimes. We’re more of a small venue, open mic type family.”