Heart attack signs missed by doctors

THOUSANDS of heart attack victims have had symptoms missed by a doctor weeks before their death, a major study has found.

One in six fatal attacks in England are suffered by people who have been examined in hospital less than a month before they died without having any heart attack symptoms recorded.

The findings, which imply thousands of deaths could have been avoided, show Britain’s doctors are still missing the early symptoms of a heart attack despite years of awareness campaigns. Red flags such as chest pain, shortness of breath or nausea, if spotted, could save someone’s life. But the Imperial College London team said doctors were not ‘alert to the possibility’ these signalled an upcoming fatal attack.

Some 188,000 people suffer heart attacks in Britain each year, and nearly 70,000 die as a result. The chance of surviving is significantly increased with quick treatment.

An initial misdiagnosis drives up the chance of dying within four weeks by 70 per cent, previous research has found. Cardiologists warn not enough people know the symptoms of a heart attack – and often mistake the warning signs for indigestion.

The authors of the new study, published in the Lancet Public Health journal, examined records from 136,000 fatal heart attacks in England between 2006 and 2010. Some 21,677 – 16 per cent – of the patients had been hospitalised in the four weeks before their death, but no heart attack symptoms had been mentioned on their records.

Lead author Dr Perviz Asaria said: ‘Doctors are very good at treating heart attacks when they are the main cause of admission, but we don’t do very well picking up subtle signs which might point to a heart attack death in the near future.’