Overview
Chest pain is any pain, pressure, tightness, burning, or discomfort felt in the chest area. Some causes are minor and short-lived, but others can be life-threatening. The chest contains important organs including the heart and lungs, so chest pain should be taken seriously, especially if it is new, severe, or unexplained.
Key Symptoms
People describe chest pain in different ways, such as squeezing, heaviness, stabbing, aching, or burning. The pain may stay in one place or spread to the shoulder, arm, back, neck, or jaw. Other symptoms can include shortness of breath, cough, fast heartbeat, sweating, nausea, dizziness, or fainting.
Causes and Risk Factors
Chest pain can be caused by heart conditions such as reduced blood flow to the heart or a heart attack, but it can also come from the lungs, such as a blood clot, infection, or collapsed lung. Digestive causes include acid reflux or problems with the esophagus, and musculoskeletal causes include strained muscles or inflamed rib joints. Risk factors for serious causes can include older age, tobacco use, high blood pressure, diabetes, high cholesterol, obesity, pregnancy-related clot risk, recent surgery, long travel, or a history of heart or lung disease.
Who Is Affected
Chest pain can affect people of any age, including children and young adults, although the causes differ by person. Heart-related causes are more common with increasing age and in people with cardiovascular risk factors. Women, men, and people of all backgrounds can have serious chest pain, and symptoms do not always look the same in every person.
Prevention
Not all chest pain can be prevented, but some important causes can be lowered by not smoking, being physically active, managing stress, and seeking care for ongoing conditions such as high blood pressure, diabetes, or high cholesterol. Wearing seat belts, using protective sports gear, and avoiding illegal stimulant drugs can also reduce some causes of chest injury or heart strain. If you have known heart or lung disease, follow-up care matters.
Diagnosis and Tests
A healthcare professional will ask about the feeling of the pain, when it started, what makes it better or worse, and whether there are other symptoms. They may examine you and use tests such as an electrocardiogram, blood tests, chest X-ray, or other imaging, depending on the concern. Fast evaluation is important because some dangerous causes need treatment without delay.
Treatment Categories
Treatment depends completely on the cause. It may include urgent hospital care for heart or lung emergencies, medicines for digestive or inflammatory causes, or rest and other supportive care for muscle-related pain. Because the right treatment varies widely, chest pain should not be treated as one single condition.
When to Seek Medical Care
Seek prompt medical care if chest pain is new, repeated, worsening, or not clearly explained. Also seek care if it happens with exercise, breathing, fever, cough, or after an injury. If you are unsure whether it is serious, it is safer to get medical help than to wait.
When It May Be an Emergency
Get emergency help right away for chest pain or pressure that is severe, sudden, crushing, or lasts more than a few minutes, especially if it spreads to the arm, back, neck, or jaw. Emergency care is also needed if chest pain happens with trouble breathing, blue lips, fainting, severe weakness, confusion, sweating, or coughing up blood. These symptoms can happen with a heart attack, major lung problem, or other life-threatening emergency.