Sweat an indicator of oncoming heart attack

Reported by Susan Aldridge, PhD, medical journalist

Perspiration coupled with chest, arm, neck or jaw discomfort could be a sign of impending heart attack.
Sweating during physical activity is quite normal. But if it happens when you are not exerting yourself it may mean that you're about to have a heart attack, say doctors at the University of Illinois at Chicago. They looked at ten studies of heart attack, focusing on various symptoms, including chest discomfort, shortness of breath, nausea and sweating - twelve symptoms in all.

The number of symptoms experienced affected the time taken to seek medical help. This is crucial, because the time to treatment strongly affects survival. The quicker you seek help the better. In this analysis, the more symptoms people had, the more likely they were to call for medical attention promptly. The researchers believe that sweating may be a key symptom prompting individuals to realize fast that something is wrong. Therefore, although chest pain is the symptom most people associate with heart attack, don't overlook unusual sweating.

Source
American Heart Association meeting 22nd November 2005