The CDC reports that approximately 800,000 first time heart attacks occur annually. Ignoring iatrogenic deaths (death by medicine), heart disease is still the number one killer for both men and women.

However, the common perception of chest pain or discomfort as a signal that a heart attack is occurring are less than one normally thinks, especially among younger women under 45.

A study led by Dr. John Canto at the Watson Clinic in Lakeland, Florida, used medical records in a national database of heart attack patients from 1994 to 2006, covering around 1.1 million people treated at close to 2,000 hospitals.

Dr. Canto and his team reported their study in the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA) on February 21, 2012.

What was revealed is that chest pain is not necessarily the only indication of a heart attack. Dr. Canto used the term "atypical symptoms" to describe possible indications of a heart attack other than chest pain.

Atypical symptoms of a heart attack include numbness, unprovoked arm, jaw or back pain, sudden shortness of breath, weakness or fatigue, or unusual feelings of indigestion or nausea. Read more...