Cardiac Arrest vs. Heart Attack: What's the Difference?

Ask a room full of people whether a heart attack and cardiac arrest are the same thing, and most hands go up. We ask that question in almost every class we teach in Downers Grove and Lombard, and the answer surprises people every time.

They are not the same. They are related, but they need completely different responses — and knowing which one you are looking at decides whether you should be reassuring someone or pushing on their chest.

October is National Sudden Cardiac Arrest Awareness Month, so there is no better time to clear this up.

A heart attack is a plumbing problem

A heart attack happens when a blocked artery cuts off blood flow to part of the heart muscle. The heart is usually still beating. The person is usually awake, talking and breathing — and often trying to convince everyone they are fine.

Common signs include:

• Pressure, squeezing or pain in the center of the chest that lasts more than a few minutes or comes and goes

• Pain spreading to one or both arms, the back, neck, jaw or stomach

• Shortness of breath

• Cold sweat, nausea or lightheadedness

Women, older adults and people with diabetes are more likely to have the "quieter" symptoms — shortness of breath, nausea, back or jaw pain — without dramatic chest pain. Those are the heart attacks that get brushed off as indigestion or a bad night's sleep.

What to do: Call 911 right away. Don't let them drive themselves, and don't drive them yourself unless there is truly no other option — paramedics can start treatment the moment they arrive. Keep them seated and calm, and follow the dispatcher's instructions, including whether to chew an aspirin.

Cardiac arrest is an electrical problem

Sudden cardiac arrest is different. The heart's electrical system misfires and the heart stops pumping blood. It often happens with no warning at all.

The person:

• Suddenly collapses

• Does not respond when you tap them and shout

• Is not breathing, or is only gasping

That last point matters. In the first minutes of cardiac arrest, many people make slow, noisy gasps that look like breathing. They are not. Gasping is a sign of cardiac arrest, not a sign that the person is okay. We see this cause hesitation more than anything else.

What to do: Call 911, put the phone on speaker, and start chest compressions immediately — hard and fast in the center of the chest. Send someone to get the nearest AED and use it the moment it arrives. It will talk you through every step.

How the two are connected

A heart attack can trigger cardiac arrest. Someone might start with chest pain, then collapse and stop breathing a few minutes later. That is why you stay with anyone having heart attack symptoms until help arrives, and why you watch them closely. If they stop responding and stop breathing normally, you switch immediately from comforting to compressions.

Why this is so urgent

More than 350,000 people in the U.S. have a cardiac arrest outside a hospital every year, and about 90% of them die. Most of these happen at home — which means the person most likely to save your spouse, parent or neighbor is you, not a paramedic.

The good news: immediate CPR from someone nearby can double or even triple a person's chance of survival. Yet fewer than half of people who collapse get CPR from a bystander, and in public places an AED is used only a small fraction of the time. That gap is not about equipment. It is about people freezing because they aren't sure what they are seeing or what to do.

The simplest rule to remember

• Awake and talking with chest symptoms? Likely a heart attack. Call 911, keep them calm, stay with them.

• Collapsed, not responding, not breathing normally? Treat it as cardiac arrest. Call 911, push hard and fast, get an AED.

You don't need to diagnose anything perfectly. If you are unsure whether someone is breathing normally, start CPR. Illinois' Good Samaritan protections cover people who help in good faith, and compressions on someone who turns out not to need them are far less dangerous than waiting on someone who does.

Be the person who knows

Reading about CPR is a start, but your hands need practice to do it under pressure. Our Heartsaver CPR/AED class is built for everyday people — parents, coaches, coworkers, neighbors — and takes just a few hours. You'll practice on feedback manikins that tell you when your compressions are deep and fast enough, and you'll use a training AED until it feels routine.

This Sudden Cardiac Arrest Awareness Month, give yourself the confidence to act. See our upcoming class dates in Lombard, or contact us about bringing training to your workplace, church or team.

Sources: American Red Cross; American Heart Association, 2025 Guidelines.