Shortness of Breath Tells You If You Have A Heart Condition

While most people know that chest pain can signify the presence of a heart disease, it is less known that shortness of breath can also be a serious cardiac symptom.

Now, researchers at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center have found that patients with shortness of breath face a higher risk of dying from cardiac disease than patients without symptoms, and even than patients with typical cardiac pain.

"Patients often do not interpret shortness of breath as a serious symptom, but particularly in patients who have cardiac risk factors and in patients without lung disease, it may be the only sign of the presence of serious coronary artery disease that may need treatment", said Daniel Berman, M.D., senior author of the study and the Director of Cardiac Imaging at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center

The study was based on a retrospective evaluation of medical records of nearly 18,000 patients referred for cardiac stress testing, who were followed-up later.

Researchers had found that, when compared to patients without shortness of breath, those with shortness of breath were significantly more likely to experience death from cardiac cause than patients without shortness of breath.

"If we can identify patients with coronary disease before an event occurs, then the vast majority of the cardiac events could be prevented by modern therapies. The problem is identifying the patient at risk", Dr. Berman concluded.