The average person waits three hours before seeking help for symptoms of a heart attack. The sooner you get to the emergency room, the better your chance of not only surviving, but of lessening the damage done to your heart. These and other similar conditions block the supply of oxygen to an area of the heart, leading to damage or death of the cells in that area. Most often, this occurs in a coronary artery that has been narrowed from changes related to atherosclerosis . Babies and children rarely suffer heart attacks .
Heart disease is extremely rare in infants and children.
The primary cause for cardiac arrest in children is respiratory arrest . This may occur for a number of reasons including drowning, suffocation, electrical shock, anaphylaxis, poisoning, illness, and foreign body aspiration . DO NOT allow the victim to deny the symptoms and convince you not to call for emergency medical assistance. DO NOT wait to see if the symptoms go away. Loosen any tight clothing.