Cardiology

Symptoms of Heart Disease

Common symptoms of heart disease include:

• dyspnoea (shortness of breath),
• chest pain,
• palpitation (awareness of the beating heart), and
• syncope and pre-syncope (fainting and near-fainting).

Less commonly, patients may experience dizziness, weakness, diaphoresis (excessive sweating), or neurological disturbances.

In addition, other indications of heart disease include:

• Oedema — the swelling of tissue due to retention of water or lymph fluid in tissue cells.
• Cyanosis — a blue discolouration of the skin caused by a reduction of oxygen-carrying haemoglobin in the blood.
• Fatigue — a common complaint that may be associated with reduced cardiac output caused by heart disease.

Technically, both oedema and cyanosis are signs rather than symptoms as they are observable.

Vertigo, an illusionary sensation of motion, rather than light-headedness, is rarely due to heart disease and more likely caused by an abnormality of the inner ear.