My chest hurts, is it anxiety or heart attack?

They can look very similar, although they are very different conditions. They have in common the heart rate that accelerates suddenly, the shortness of breath, the sweating that appears even when it is cold. Is it a panic attack or a heart attack?

The first thing to know is that, although different, they are serious conditions. Heart attack puts life at risk, and panic, quality of life and mental health.

Heart attack

Heart attack occurs when part of the heart is not getting enough blood. This emergency situation occurs when an artery through which the blood circulates is blocked, a condition known as atherosclerosis.

The most common symptoms of a heart attack are:

• Chest pain and pressure
• Sudden acceleration of heart rate
• Feeling of losing consciousness
• Upper body discomfort, difficulty to breathe
• Nausea or vomiting

Panic attack

Panic attack is the sudden uncontrollable feeling of anxiety and fear. Although one of these isolated attacks may not mean more than an extreme situation of fear or stress, if this type of attack occurs frequently, the person can be diagnosed with a panic or anxiety disorder.

Frequent panic attacks alter family, social and work life, dramatically affecting the quality of life of the sufferer.

The most common symptoms of panic attack are:

• That spontaneous feeling of fear
• Chest pain
• Difficulty breathing
• Fast heartbeat (tachycardia)
• Severe sweating
• Tremors and dizziness
• Nausea

A key difference

In heart attack, chest pain radiates to the arm, neck and shoulders. In a panic attack, she usually concentrates only on the chest.

Other differences to take into account (both the person affected and those who are with her at the time of the attack):

• Heart attack usually occurs after a strenuous task such as lifting weight (although it can occur at any time),
• there is increased pressure in the chest, a pressure as if a tractor is on the chest,
• feels like the chest burns.
• Panic attack is more like the pain or pressure of a stab,
• chest or stomach pain is difficult to describe.

The panic attack can last from a few minutes to an hour, and usually resolves on its own. Heart attack requires immediate medical intervention.

In the United States alone, a heart attack occurs every 40 seconds.

Every year, more than 800, 000 people suffer a heart attack in the US One in 5 of them are “silent”, which means that the person has it without even realizing it (perhaps he feels a slight discomfort in the chest that he does not care about), but vascular damage occurs.

Heart disease is the leading cause of death in women, one in every 5 deaths.

Why Hispanic Women Should Care

Hispanic women are more likely to develop heart disease, up to 10 years before Caucasian women. One in three Latina women has undiagnosed heart disease.

Risk factors for heart disease in women:

• Studies have shown that the decrease in estrogen levels during menopause can be one of the factors responsible for the increased risk of heart disease.
• Diabetes increases the risk of heart disease for women more than men. Having diabetes doubles a woman’s risk of developing heart disease.
• Health events that can occur during pregnancy, such as pre-eclampsia or gestational diabetes can be risk factors for heart disease later in life.
• Women who smoke are at increased risk for heart disease. Compared to men who smoke, women who smoke have a 25 percent higher risk of developing heart disease.

Eating a healthy diet and regular physical activity reduces risks from suffering from heart disease, high blood pressure, overweight, obesity, and diabetes.

Incidence of panic attack

About 1.5 % of the population of the United States between 18 and 54 years, that is about 2.5 million, have a panic attack in a given year.

Panic attacks occur more frequently in women than in men: it is 2.5 times more frequent.

Sources: CDC, Cleveland Clinic, Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, National Comorbidity Survey. 2021