50% of heart attack victims wait an hour before seeking help

HALF of heart attack victims wait for more than an hour before seeking help, experts warned.

And every second of delay in treatment reduces the chance of survival, says the British Heart Foundation (BHF).

Its researchers found that one in ten people ignore the symptoms for two days or more before trying to get medical help. Doctors warn that not enough people know the signs of a heart attack – and often mistake them for indigestion or muscle pain.

Every three minutes someone in the UK has a heart attack, which occurs when a blood clot forms in a major artery, cutting off the blood supply to the heart. Early intervention is essential, with nearly half of the salvageable heart muscle being lost in the first hour of the attack starting.

Yet only one in four attack victims managed to get treatment within this time. The BHF polled 500 heart attack patients and found that 80 per cent initially failed to realise they were having a heart attack, with 35 per cent mistaking their symptoms for indigestion. Some 50 per cent did not seek help for more than an hour and 11 per cent waited two days or longer.

Cardiovascular disease is Britain’s biggest killer, causing 155,000 deaths each year. The BHF says too many people mistakenly think that a heart attack happens quickly, with someone clutching their chest and keeling over. Instead, it happens gradually.

Melanie Mully, 43 from Bishop’s Stortford, Hertfordshire, had a heart attack when she was just 38 and thought the pain in her arm was caused by carrying her baby Alice.

‘The pain went on throughout the day, but I didn’t want to go through the hassle of sitting in a waiting room with a baby,’ she said. ‘That evening my heart attack led to a cardiac arrest and my heart stopped. Thank- fully the paramedics arrived quickly and resuscitated me.’

Mrs Mully said she did not consider herself at risk. ‘It didn’t occur to me that this could happen,’ she said.

‘It’s something that has had a huge impact on my life. It’s taken a couple of years, a lot of hard work and counselling to get my life back on track.’

Simon Gillespie, chief executive at the BHF, said: ‘Every second counts when someone has a heart attack. The sooner people call 999, the better their chance of recovery.

‘ Research advances mean seven out of ten people now survive a heart attack.

‘Most occur without warning and we have no way of predicting when they will strike.

‘ We need to accelerate research into improving our understanding of the furring of the arteries that causes heart attacks and develop better ways of preventing them.’