Research finds almost one in five ignore signs of potential heart issue

Almost one in five people who experienced symptoms that could signal a potential heart issue failed to act on it, new research has found. 

Blackrock Health released the new research as part of its new Show Your Heart Some Love campaign has revealed that an alarming 18% of people who experience symptoms that could signal a potential heart issue do not take any action to address or investigate the cause of the symptoms.

Almost a quarter (24%) of those who took no action when they experienced heart-related symptoms claim they didn’t act because they thought it was a general symptom of getting older and a further 1 in 5 (20%) thought that the issue would improve in time.  

The campaign aims to build public awareness of the signs and symptoms that people of all ages should be looking out for to ensure that cardiac issues are diagnosed as early as possible.

This comes as Blackrock Health launches its Acute Cardiac Assessment service across its Blackrock, Galway and Hermitage clinics.  The research was conducted among a nationally representative sample of 1,010 members of the general public aged 18 and over. 

Further underlining the need for greater awareness of heart condition symptoms, the research showed that 13% of people were unaware that the symptoms they experienced were key warning signals of a heart condition, or a heart attack.

Of those who did experience a symptom like shortness of breath, chest pain, irregular heartbeat or dizziness, only half (53%) of respondents followed up on this by speaking with their doctor.

Dr Zain Sharif, above, Consultant Cardiologist at Blackrock Health, commented: "Early detection and treatment is so important when it comes to cardiac issues and knowing when to reach out to your doctor is the first step to catching a potentially life threatening condition. The symptoms are so varied that they can often be mistaken for something else or simply be thought of as insignificant as we saw from our research with 12% of people thinking a symptom was caused by a non-heart issue.

"We want people to know the different signs to look out for so that they can refer themselves to the Acute Cardiac Assessment service and hopefully rule out anything serious or catch a heart issue as early as possible.  We have so many technologically advanced diagnostic and treatment options available now so the earlier we can diagnose patients, the more we can offer them to ensure that any issue does not progress.”  

The new Show Your Heart Some Love campaign also features the story of Ann Malone, above, who was alerted to an irregular heartbeat by her wearable device and subsequently attended the Acute Cardiac Assessment service in the Hermitage Clinic where she was able to access life-saving diagnosis and treatment.

“I really didn’t think there was any urgency around the irregular heartbeat that my watch alerted me to and I assumed it was just a minor issue, but responding to that alert meant that my heart issue was caught and treated early.”  

More and more people are now using wearable technology to monitor their health, according to Blackrock Health. The research study shows that 4 in 10 people claim they currently use a wearable device to measure the performance of their heart and 38% of those who wear them claim that the device has given them a result related to their heart health which led them to seek medical advice from a healthcare professional. 

Ahead of International Women’s Day 2023 Blackrock Health is proud to champion the work of the female cardiologists working across all clinics in the group and highlight the importance of women being more aware of their own potential heart risks.

Women are more likely than men to put off consulting their doctor about a potential heart issue (21% of women who experienced symptoms took no action), and 14% claim that they took no action because they didn’t recognise that what they were experiencing could be a symptom of a cardiac condition (compared with 11% in males).i  

Dr Carla Canniffe, Consultant Cardiologist at Blackrock Health, said: “Heart disease is so often mistakenly thought to be a male health concern, but cardiovascular disease remains the leading cause of death in women. In the Acute Cardiac Assessment service, we see almost as many women attending as men (female 45%, male 55%). Of the 1 in 5 people who go on to be admitted to hospital for further investigation or treatment, almost half are female (46%). It’s important for everyone to be aware of the signs and symptoms to be vigilant for, but we do want women to become more aware so that anything that they are experiencing is not mistaken for something else.”