Half-useful advice

The Cleveland Clinic has a short article on Seven Early Warning Signs of a Heart Attack. It's useful, but only half-useful.

It's useful because it lists symptoms that many of us might not think of when it comes to heart attacks.

1. Pressure or tightness in your chest (rather than pain).
2. Pain in areas such as your arms, jaw, neck or back.
3. Cold sweats.
4. Heartburn or indigestion.
5. Shortness of breath.
6. Nausea or vomiting.
7. Unusual fatigue.
   

I can easily see laypeople not knowing, for example, that cold sweats, arm pain, nausea, or "unusual fatigue" might augur heart trouble. So in that sense, this article is useful.

But what I'd like to see is some sort of discussion on how to interpret these symptoms. Not all arm pain, for example, is heart related, not even most. It's unclear when to be concerned.

The article offers the advice that "[i]f there’s even a chance you think you’re having a heart attack, act quickly to get emergency care." The problem is, there's always "a chance" you're having a heart attack. How do you know when it's a big enough chance to be concerned as opposed to, say, something that theoretically could be happening but is probably not?

I don't mean to glib here. Heart attacks are scary. If someone thinks they're having one, they should call 911. I also understand that public health messaging has to look at worst case scenarios and even "most plausibly bad case scenarios." If I were writing such articles, I'd want to err on the side of encouraging readers to believe false positives than to believe false negatives.

But I'd really like some guidance on how to balance out those types of symptoms.