Life Expectancy After A Heart Attack By Age

What is a heart attack?

According to the UK NHS, a heart attack is defined as “A serious medical emergency in which the supply of blood to the heart is suddenly blocked, usually by a blood clot”. Heart attacks are also known as myocardial infractions.    

Causes and risk factors (in brief)

The main cause of heart attacks is Coronary heart disease, a condition due to which cholesterol deposits named plaques clog the blood vessels supplying the heart. When one of the plaques breaks it creates a blood clot at the point when the rupture occurred, which could trigger a heart attack by not allowing the supply of blood to the heart. 

The main risk factors are increasing age, heredity, and male gender. Since these factors cannot be changed, it is important to work on what we can to prevent heart attacks. Risk factors that you can modify include smoking, high level of blood cholesterol, nutrition, physical inactivity, high blood pressure, obesity or being overweight, stress, diabetes, and consumption of alcohol. 

Symptoms (in brief)

Symptoms of a heart attack include severe chest pain, dizziness, sweating, shortness of breath, nausea or vomiting, coughing, and a sense of anxiety similar to the one experienced during a panic attack. It is important to stress that symptoms differ between women and men. 

Women experience chest pain and shortness of breath as well but the main symptoms for them are sickness and jaw or back pain. 

Although chest pain is usually severe, some people may show a lower level of pain.

Diagnosis (in brief)

When having a heart attack, timeliness is essential. You should immediately rush to the hospital and you will usually get admitted to the acute cardiac care unit where the diagnosis is performed to immediately treat you. 

The test performed in the case of a suspected heart attack is the electrocardiogram. It measures the electrical activity of the heart by recording the electrical impulses made by the heart every time that the heart beats. It should be done within 10 minutes after admission to the hospital.

Treatment (in brief)

Main treatments for heart attacks are medicines that eliminate blood clots and surgery able to restore blood to the heart. While one is not at the hospital yet, it might help to take an aspirin (Possibly 300 mg) since it thins the blood and improves the flow to the heart. 

Life expectancy after a heart attacks

The life expectancy after a heart attack changes according to age. Heart attack survivors have an elevated risk of suffering from another heart attack, with a high risk that the next one could be fatal.

Life expectancy by age

The risk of sudden death for patients who survived a heart attack is 17 times higher compared to the risk faced by people who never had a heart attack.

According to Cardiosound, 18% of male survivors of heart attacks above the age of 45 die within a year. For females, the percentage rises to 23% of victims within a year from the heart attack. 

Within 5 years after the heart attack, 36% of male survivors above the age of 45 die, while 41% of female survivors die. 

Regarding patients above the age of 65, 25% of heart attack survivors die in the first year after being discharged from the hospital. 

Women tend to experience heart attacks at an older age, and they are more likely compared to males to die within the first weeks after a heart attack. 

According to the cardiovascular business, around 66% of survivors of heart attacks above the age of 65 will die within 8 years after the heart attack, and nearly 50% of them will die within 8 years even if they received the percutaneous coronary intervention or coronary artery bypass graft surgery. In a cohort study conducted in the USA, it was witnessed that the median survival was 4.8 years, considering 8.2 years for survivors of heart attacks aged between 65 and 74 and 3.1 years for people above the age of 75. The median survival was 4.8 years, including 8.2 years for those aged 65 to 74 and 3.1 years for people over 75. 8 years mortality rates were 65% overall, 49 percent for those undergoing PCI, and 46% for CABG patients.

Life after a heart attack

After a heart attack, the top priority is to recover. The recovery process aims at preparing you to go back to your normal life and perform everyday activities and of course, it aims at reducing the risk of another heart attack. The time it takes to recover depends on the amount of damage to the heart muscle. It might take a few weeks for some to recover, for other months. It depends mainly on your health and the state of your heart. To recover, one will take medicines (statins for example) to help reduce blood cholesterol levels. 

Lifestyle changes

To prevent new heart attacks and to get back in shape, there are some lifestyle changes that need to be implemented.

To do/not to do after a heart attack

For instance, if you smoke, you should quit. A healthy diet is the key to fighting heart attacks. Diet is indeed related to risk factors such as diabetes, blood pressure, obesity, and cholesterol. Choose nutrient-rich foods (Rich in vitamins, minerals, fiber, and other nutrients that are lower in calories) over foods that are poor in nutrients. You should eat vegetables, fruits, fish, legumes, and nuts and limit the consumption of sweets, sugar-sweetened beverages, and red meats. Physical activity is also very important for a healthy lifestyle. Reducing stress levels and the consumption of alcohol is also essential.

How to improve life expectancy?

(A brief note on regular health check-ups and screening tests)

To improve life expectancy, regular health check-ups and screening tests are essential and can save your life. By regularly checking and acting ahead of time, one can increase their life expectancy.

Complications of a heart attack

Complications from a heart attack can vary, going from mild to life-threatening. Among the most serious ones, we recall 

• Arrhythmias: it is a result of damage to the heart muscles, which can disrupt electrical signals to control the heart and lead in the worst case to complete heart block, where electrical signals cannot go from one side of the heart to the other, and therefore the heart cannot pump blood properly or ventricular arrhythmia, also known as sudden cardiac arrest
• Heart failure: it occurs when the heart cannot effectively pump blood around your body. It can develop, if your heart muscle is very damaged, after a heart attack. This mostly occurs in the left side of the heart, known as the left ventricle
• Cardiogenic shock: It occurs when the heart muscle has been damaged extensively and is therefore unable to pump enough blood to maintain most functions of your body
• Heart rupture: it is an extremely serious and luckily uncommon complication of a heart attack where the muscles, walls, and valves of the heart cleave into separate pieces

Prevention

As previously discussed, the main risk factors are not in our control. However, by avoiding those related to our lifestyle (smoking, diet, physical activity, and trying to keep our blood pressure at a healthy level) we can prevent heart attacks.

Summary

This article provides info on heart attacks, their symptoms, complications, risk factors, and treatment strategies. It also provides information on preventive measures and how lifestyle plays a role in preventing heart attacks. The main aim of this article is to show that life expectancy changes according to age and to inform our readers regarding the risks and preventive measures that they can adopt in their everyday life.