[Medical Q&A] Are palpitations and chest pain signs of coronary heart disease?

Planner: Chinese Medical Association

Reviewer: He Yubin, Chief Physician, Seventh Medical Center, PLA General Hospital

Many young women may experience such a situation: feeling panic for several consecutive days, each time lasting about an hour, and waking up the next day to find that they are sweating a lot. Or suddenly there is a sharp pain in the chest at night, and the left back also hurts, which lasts for about 20 minutes. These symptoms make people worry: Is there something wrong with the heart?

In fact, chest pain is not always a sign of heart disease. Young women rarely develop coronary heart disease due to their higher estrogen levels. In the above case, it was finally found that it was an endocrine problem. The occurrence of this kind of chest pain is mostly related to the dysfunction of the autonomic nervous system in women's bodies, which is medically called cardiac autonomic dysfunction. They are usually prone to anger, accompanied by symptoms such as sweating and insomnia. Of course, before the diagnosis, the doctor will make it clear that their coronary arteries are normal, because this kind of chest pain is essentially different from the chest pain caused by coronary heart disease.

The chest pain caused by coronary heart disease has the following characteristics: the duration is generally no more than 15 minutes, the location is mostly local to the sternum, the onset is often related to fatigue or emotional fluctuations, and is often accompanied by cold sweat, palpitations or a feeling of suffocation. The pain is mainly squeezing or tightening. Many people will feel pain radiating to the left shoulder and back. Most of the time, the pain can be relieved by taking nitroglycerin sublingually.