We’re all familiar with the scene: a person frantically clutching at their chest, reacting to a sudden, searing pain before dramatically collapsing on the ground, suffering from a heart attack.
When thinking about what a heart attack looks like, this is what many people picture thanks to the influence of television and movies. Unfortunately, according to a new study in Heart & Lung, most heart attacks that occur in real life don’t look like they do on screen, and this expectation often costs people their lives.
“We did ourselves a disservice in the 1980s and 1990s with what’s known as ‘The Hollywood Heart Attack.’ That’s unfortunately not real life,” said Ann Eckhardt, a nursing professor and researcher at the University of Texas at Arlington, in a press release. “It’s not always intense. Sometimes it’s just discomfort that doesn’t feel quite right, so people tend to wait to see a doctor. The longer you wait, the more likely you are to have negative consequences after your heart attack.”
