Heart Attack (Secondary Prevention)

What is Heart Attack (Secondary Prevention) ❓

 Secondary prevention tries to prevent/reduce recurrence of a heart attack 💔

 A heart attack is also known as myocardial infarction

 It is the damage to the heart muscle caused by a loss of blood due to blockages 🚫


What are the Main Types of Secondary Prevention ❓

 Cardiac rehabilitation:

 Classes/support

 Improve fitness & health 🏃

 Strengthen the heart

 Counselling 🗣

 Lifestyle changes:

 Stop smoking & reduce drinking 🍺

 Increase physical activity to at least 2.5 hours a week

 Eat a balanced/healthy diet (less salt/sugar/fat, more wholegrain & fish) 🐟

 Lose weight (if overweight)

 Drug treatment:

 Ace inhibitor

 Beta-blocker 💊

 Statin

 Blood-thinning medication


What is Secondary Prevention for ❓

 To help prevent further heart attacks in patients who have had a heart attack

 Reduce risk-factors associated with heart attack (e.g. smoking) 🚬

 Also to reduce the damage and complications if it does reoccur

 People with coronary heart disease are at risk ⚠️


What are the Adverse Effects of Secondary Prevention ❓

 Some of the medications can cause:

 Kidney issues

 Heart rhythm issues 💞

 Low blood pressure

 Cough

 Water retention 💦

 Excessive bleeding

 Dizziness/headache 💫


Related Articles
Everything you need to know about Heart Failure (Chronic) in 60 seconds!
Everything you need to know about Deep Vein Thrombosis in 60 seconds!
About the author

The i-medics Editorial Team consists of Doctors, Medical Students, Professional Content writers, i-medics Ambassadors and Freelance workers.