# Heart attack warning signs and when to call for help

Care topic · id `cardio:heart-attack-warning-signs` · Cardiovascular Atlas · release `73130c34862e2d06` (public)

> General information from published sources, not medical advice, and not reviewed by clinicians. Check the cited source before relying on anything here.

The atlas's own text and curation may be reused under Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International (CC BY-NC 4.0, https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/): credit the atlas, and do not use it commercially. See the atlas About page. Text quoted from a source stays under that source's own terms, given as the source's reuse\_basis. The atlas's reuse terms do not cover it. The downloads list each quotation with its source in third\_party\_quotations.

Browse, condition area: Acute care and long-term living  

## In plain language

Heart attack symptoms differ from person to person, between men and women, and from one heart attack to the next. They can start slowly, come and go over hours, be mild, or be absent altogether (a silent heart attack). Chest pain, heaviness or discomfort is the most common; others include pain in an arm, the back, shoulders, neck, jaw or upper abdomen, breathlessness, heavy sweating for no reason, unusual tiredness, nausea or vomiting, light-headedness and a fast or uneven heartbeat. Two US government health pages both say to call 9-1-1 (911) when a heart attack might be happening, whether or not the person is certain. One adds that an ambulance is the safest way to reach hospital and that people should not drive themselves or ride with someone else, because ambulance crews can begin tests and treatment on the way.

## Technical summary

Patient information from two US government health pages (a symptoms page last updated 2022-03-24, and a heart attack topic page). The symptoms page links breathlessness more closely with older adults and unusual tiredness more closely with women, and separates the pain of stable angina, which usually follows exertion and eases with rest, from heart attack pain, which does not ease with rest. Neither page gives an age group or a time limit. This page is about recognizing the event and calling for help; it is not advice for an individual.

## Connected pages

- Warning signs of this condition: Heart attack (myocardial infarction) (`cardio:myocardial-infarction`)
- Filed under this front: Emergency and acute care (`cardio:front-emergency-and-acute-care`)
- Related to: MedlinePlus (`core:medlineplus`)

## Provenance

Content hash: afce105e85471af1acbff263d1afed0156553ace09563f07a78b253855fb1ba5
Last substantive edit: 2026-10-15
Evidence last checked: 2026-10-15